The Pit
by Unjax
Summary: By fourth year, RWBY has become a strong team, but betrayed by fellow students and tricked by Torchwick, they find themselves trapped, struggling to find a way out and to survive. Meanwhile, team JNPR works to protect Vale from attacks by Grimm that are stronger and faster than any seen before while trying to stop what is quickly becoming a war. [slow-burn bumblebee and arkos]
1. Chapter 1

_Velvet's legs pounded against the earth, ripping up the ground as her legs hurled her swiftly through the dark trees around her. She had always been swift of foot. She was a rabbit, after all, though Velvet briefly thought about how little she cared about that right now. The biggest challenge she had faced her whole life had been growing up as a faunus, but that seemed so insignificant now. What they were facing now was so,_ so _much worse._

 _She reached into a pouch on her belt as she flew across the uneven ground of the forest. She was thankful that her vision brightened the pitch black world around her; even the bright moon's beams were snuffed out by the dense foliage above her head. There was a crashing behind her, and Velvet frantically drew the phial of dust out of her hip pocket, uncapping it. She spun quickly, letting the dust fly out in an arc behind her, then splayed her hand. She felt her aura pulse as the dust ignited, creating a crescent of white hot fire in front of her._

 _Behind the light, Velvet caught a glimpse of her pursuer, a great, black and red mass of gnashing teeth and sharp claws. The Beowolf was only a few bounds behind her, its jaw open wide and spittle flying from it ravenous maw. It was so tall that, even on all fours, running, the top of her ears would barely come to the bottom of its chest. Its claws, a deep red as opposed to the usual white, glimmered almost of their own accord, sharper than the most wicked blades Velvet had seen at Beacon. The spikes on its back were red too, and crystalline, but Velvet hardly took notice. She was too scared to dwell on them._

 _Without missing a beat, Velvet turned tail and continued running, knowing that her hunter would not be put off for long by her little present. She heard a howl of pain from the Beowolf and a loud cracking as wood was splintered behind her. She took no heed, continuing to sprint away._

 _She weaved through the trees, her lungs burning and her legs shaking from the lactic acid. She knew that it was coming to an end though. There was no way she could escape. Whatever that thing was, it was not a Beowolf. It looked a lot like a Beowolf, despite the red crystals, it sounded like a Beowolf, and it wanted to kill her like a Beowolf, but it was too strong and fast to be the species of Grimm that Velvet knew._

 _And it was going to kill her._

 _She felt sweat dripping down her brow. She had been sprinting for a long time now, ever since she had watched that beast's claws rip her team to shreds and_ those _four figures had watched silently from the shadows. She would have stayed to fight, but Coco's last words had been an order for her run and warn Beacon. She had never expected to die because of her allies, but it was shaping up to go that way. Team CFVE had been betrayed, but that was the least of their worries._

 _Velvet had to warn Beacon about the Pit. A cold shiver passed down her spine at the thought of the deep, cold abyss from which the beast that was hot on her heels had come._

 _So Velvet had run, and she was still running. What had started off as a quarter mile lead had turned into nothing more than a few meters in the span of no more than two minutes. There was no way that Velvet could outrun it any longer, and if she tried to, she would die._

 _She reached into the last pocket on her belt that had a phial in it. This was it, her last bit of dust. It had been a present from Weiss Schnee on her graduation day, and Velvet had kept it safe, tucked away as a last resort. And this was a last resort._

 _She just hoped she had enough aura to survive._

 _She uncapped the phial, letting the burgundy gem slide out of the glass tube, holding it carefully in her hand. Velvet turned to see the beast charging towards her, its glowing eyes boring into her. She thought she could see a glimmer of satisfaction, of victory, in its eyes. She hoped that the crystal would blow that glimmer right out of its monstrous eyes. She tensed her aura as she squeezed her eyes shut, letting out just enough of her soul to activate the crystal._

 _As her aura touched the crystal, she felt the power throbbing deep within it. She withdrew immediately, terrified of how much energy was in there, but knew that it had already activated. She dropped the crystal as those massive white fangs descended towards her, poised to sink into her soft flesh._

 _There was an earsplitting crack and Velvet's world exploded. Her vision streaked white, and she flew backwards, her entire aura stripped away in the blast. Her shoulder connected with a tree, and something cracked, sending arcs of white hot pain rocketing through her entire body. The impact sent her spinning before she tumbled to the ground, rolling hard, over and over._

 _Then the world was eerily still, and Velvet didn't move as the ringing in her ears began to fade and the world began to take on some colour. She was laying on her back, and each breath sent electric pain through her body, from her shoulder down to her toes._

 _She rolled over her good shoulder, wincing as she felt disjointed bones grinding together in her back. She put her good hand on the ground, almost growling as she forced herself into a kneeling position. As she settled her knee into the ground, pain lanced through her, making her grit her teeth and squeeze her eyes shut. The pain wore off after a moment, fading to a dull, aching throb. Velvet stilled herself, calming her erratic breathing, inhaled deeply, and stood._

 _Dark spots flashed across her vision, and Velvet staggered to the side, unbalanced. She came to a stop when her shoulder crunched into a tree, and she let out a silent scream of pain, twisting away from the tree, falling back to the ground._

 _She lay with her legs tucked against her chest for a moment until the pain stopped wracking her body in uncontrollable waves of sharp, piercing agony. As it faded, Velvet rose again, keeping her breathing steady this time. She stumbled once, but caught herself, making sure not to move until she regained her balance._

 _The world came into focus again, and Velvet saw the deep, dark woods spanning on in all directions around her. She hugged her bad shoulder, probably broken, with her good hand as she turned in a slow circle. Behind her, she could see the corpse of the Grimm, half its face blown clean off along with a chunk of its shoulder. Its eyes had glazed over, and Velvet sighed in relief. It didn't begin to dissolve though, which Velvet thought was odd. She looked at it curiously. Smoke began to wisp off its body, but much more slowly than was typical of a Grimm. Velvet knew that that meant the beast was dead, so she turned her back on it._

 _She looked into the forest ahead of her, and took a deep breath. She had to get to Beacon. She had to warn them about what_ they _had done. Those four spineless cowards who had cost her team their lives, who were supposed to be their sister team on the mission, but had instead stabbed them in the back. Cardin and his band of weak-willed lackeys._

 _But more importantly, she had to warn them about the Pit._

 _She had to warn them about the way Vale would be brought to its knees._

 _/_

"This is it." Cardin murmured from beside her, and Ruby turned to look at the larger hunter's face. He _was_ a hunter now, after all. Though Ruby and her team along with CRDL still had to finish out their last year at Beacon, Ozpin had been clear that, as of the moment RWBY accepted the mission to find team CRDL and help them accomplish their mission, they would have to act as huntresses. There was no room for error anymore.

Before Ruby was a massive hole in the ground, easily two hundred meters in diameter. To the side of it, there was a tunnel that looked like a mineshaft that stretched away from the massive pit. It was held up on smooth, metal stilts that looked sturdy and new.

She and her team were crouching at the edge of the forest about fifty meters away from the edge, hiding in the leaves of the bushes. They had taken a dust jet from Beacon and flown over Vale until they were streaking past the lush forest that defined the kingdom. Soon after, they had started to pick up the signal from CRDL's scrolls, and had landed to find them about five kilometers from their current location. After that, they had walked through the forest, tense and alert, until they had come to the edge of the forest, where they were now.

Teams CRDL and CFVE had been sent to investigate one of the few bases that Beacon had managed to learn of that belonged to Cinder. They hadn't fared well, it seemed. According to the transmission Ozpin had shown her, they had run into a group of Beowolves, ones with red spines and red claws that moved faster than any Grimm should be able to, and team CFVE had fought to make sure that team CRDL could escape. Cardin had then radioed Beacon and asked if team RWBY could come and meet them to help destroy the base. Ruby had found it odd that Cardin had asked for her team specifically seeming as the two had never been very close, but she had accepted. She was beginning to realize just how much of a threat Cinder was, and Ruby would do whatever it took to protect the kingdom. To be a huntress.

"Um?" Yang questioned from beside Ruby, and she looked over to see her sister running her fingers through her long, bright blonde hair.

"Isn't this supposed to be a base?" Ruby asked Cardin, who just looked at her tiredly.

"The base is below ground, at the bottom of the pit." He drawled slowly, his eyes distracted and unfocused. Since she had met up with Cardin and his team, Ruby had noticed the lot of them had been very tight and high strung. The usually rude, crass and obnoxious team had been quiet and thinly stretched, like a wire about to snap. Ruby was only used to people looking like that when they were hiding something, like the few times she had seen Blake during first year before she knew that the raven haired girl was a faunus. When Blake thought no one was looking, she would have that hard, nervous edge to her eyes, always worried that someone might say something that would reveal the truth about her.

Now though, Blake always looked like that.

Lately, Ruby had seen a similar look in many of her friends' eyes. The loses of the fight to bring down Cinder was starting to wear on them, and each and every single one of them was trying to hide their sorrow. They all had that look. Ruby knew why; none of them wanted to burden the others with their pain, but she knew she would have to do something about it eventually. She assumed that Cardin and his team felt guilty about the deaths of team CFVE, that they had run, and that's why they looked that way.

"It's not your fault, you know." Ruby said, laying a hand on the massive man's shoulder guard, trying to comfort him. He stiffened. She knew what it was like to blame herself for the deaths of others, she had been doing it constantly, but she also knew that it was a futile thing to do. "They died doing what they could to protect the kingdom. There's nothing you could have done. The best we can do now is make sure their sacrifice wasn't in vain."

Ruby made sure to speak softly, but Cardin didn't seem comforted. Her words seemed to make him feel worse, in fact. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists. When he opened them, Ruby saw a slight, glistening sheen of water on the edge of his eyes. Russel and Dove exchanged a glance before both of them lowered their heads, looking at the ground. None of team CRDL met Ruby's eyes. Sympathy gripped her stomach, and Ruby desperately hoped that, someday, they would manage to forgive themselves. No one should live their lives with that kind of guilt. She wondered if she would ever forgive herself for Sun and Neptune.

"There don't seem to be any guards." Weiss commented coldly, seemingly annoyed by CRDL's unease. Ruby shot her a look, wishing the other girl could be a bit more sensitive. "What?" Weiss demanded. "We can't spend all day comforting each other. We've all lost people, and they're never coming ba-" Weiss' voice cracked on the last word, and Ruby's stomach sank. Weiss squeezed her eyes shut tightly though, and when she opened them, her face was a perfect mask. Unmoved and unchanged, Weiss could have passed for an ice sculpture.

"Well, we should get this over with, right?" Yang said, and even her voice, normally upbeat and cheery, was muted by the mood of the group. She reached into her backpack and withdrew the dust charges that they had been given to do the job. "I don't know if these will do much to that pit though." She mused, turning the charges over in her hand dubiously before replacing them in her bag.

"They just need to work for the exit tunnel." Cardin said, pointing to the small mineshaft-like opening in the ground.

"Alright, let's get a move on." Blake said, and Ruby looked back at the faunus.

Blake's eyes had dark shadows under them, but her eyes burned angrily. She looked pale and weary, as though she had been starving for the past week. Ruby wondered momentarily if she had been. Blake's cheeks were gaunt, and she looked thinner than normal, almost sickly. Weiss too, who had always been a bit on the thin side, looked like she hadn't been eating enough. Her high cheekbones, normally well defined and elegant, were now hollow and sharp. The only one who didn't seem almost sick was Yang.

Ruby was just as worried about her sister though. Yang might look fine physically, but Ruby knew that she was hurt, and more than that, she knew her sister was worried about Blake. Every time Ruby looked back at her, fear and something that Ruby couldn't quite place shone in Yang's bright, lilac eyes.

Ruby was torn back to the present as Cardin took a step out of the forest, and Ruby saw his legs almost imperceptibly shaking. She briefly wondered why he was so nervous, but didn't bother giving it another thought. She followed, and soon the eight of them were taking short steps towards the edge of the pit. Ruby was following Cardin, curious as to why they weren't heading straight for the tunnel.

"Hey, shouldn't we be going to the exit?" Yang asked. Cardin looked over his shoulder at her, but didn't even pause as he continued walking towards the edge of the pit. Ruby felt an uneasy churn in her stomach, and she looked back towards the edge of the forest. Since Signal, she had learned not to ignore those feelings, but there didn't seem to be anything threatening in the forest, or even anywhere around the pit. There was just her team and CRDL. No danger.

The feeling didn't go away though as Ruby turned back to follow Cardin towards the edge of the pit. As he stepped up to the edge of it, he peered over, his hand drifting to his mace, as if he was anticipating something. He looked up and around the perimeter of the ring like opening in the earth, and Ruby wandered up next to him. She peered over the edge, trying to figure out what he was looking for.

It was a veritable abyss. The massive hole was so large that Ruby couldn't see the bottom of it. The rocks lining the edge were definitely hewn, cut away by some machine, leaving behind diagonal striations in the earth. Ruby whistled in awe. Whoever had made this hole definitely had a lot of resources and money, and had definitely invested a lot of time in this place. Each time that they encountered Cinder, Ruby decided that she was more and more dangerous. Knowing she had so much to spend made Ruby even more worried.

"Seems like a useless place for a base." Yang said from beside Ruby, and she looked over to see her sister with her hands on her hips leaning over the immense drop. Weiss was standing next to her, arms crossed over her chest and looking unimpressed, and Blake was looking around the top of the ring distractedly. Ruby wondered if Blake was feeling the same uneasiness that she was. Behind each of them stood a member of team CRDL, and Ruby wondered why they were just standing there behind her teammates, looking so nervous. She supposed the last time they had been there, they had been ambushed, so Ruby let it slide. Being next to the pit was probably the _last_ place they wanted to be right now.

"Yeah," Ruby mused, her mind whirring. "How can this be a base?" None of it made sense.

"It's not." Cardin's voice came from behind her, and she felt strong hands clamp around her arms. "It's a breeding ground." Ruby tensed, about to activate her semblance, but realized she had nowhere to go. If she ran forward, she would just jump into the cliff, and Cardin was behind her.

"Hey!" Yang yelled, and Ruby looked up to see her turn towards Cardin. Her wristlets clicked into place, but just as she raised her fist, Russel kicked the backs of her knees and Yang fell forward, stopped from falling only by Russel grabbing her hair and yanking her head backwards, a knife suddenly in his hand and pressing against Yang's throat. "Not the ha-" Yang began to growl, tensing, but was silenced by a slight move from Russel's hand. She winced, sucking in breath, and Ruby saw a thin bead of blood drip down her neck. Ruby looked over at Weiss and Blake, but saw they they had suffered similar fates, each held up against the edge of the cliff by the sharp blade, respectively of a halberd and a sword.

Ruby tried to wrench her shoulder to the side and free herself, but as she moved, Cardin just pulled back sharply on her arm, wrenching her shoulder. Ruby gasped in pain, and before she recovered, she was muscled to her knees.

She saw Blake's hand, hanging at her side, twitch slightly to reach for Gambol Shroud, strapped across her back. There was a loud cracking, and Ruby saw Blake's hair whip in the wind of the passing bullet, missing her head by less than an inch. The gun sword moved back to its position, leveled at Blake's throat, and the faunus was still, though her eyes burned.

"No one moves," Cardin said, his voice wobbling despite obviously trying to be authoritative.

"Well done!" Came a familiar voice, and Ruby's heart sank inside her chest.

Of course it was him.

"You know, I was really worried that you four louts wouldn't be able to do it-" Torchwick cut himself off as he saw Ruby, and grinned even wider. He spun his cane around his finger as he walked towards the group, then caught it, planted it, and dipped his hat to her. "-Nice to see you again, Red- But you did it you beautiful goons!" Torchwick said with a wicked grin. A group of White Fang funnelled out of the gaping maw of the tunnel behind him and levelled their weapons at team RWBY.

"What are you doing, Cardin?" Ruby asked intensely, her mind beginning to come to grips with what had happened. Not just to her, but what must have happened to team CFVE.

"If its any comfort," Cardin's voice was not rude, or arrogant, or even cocky, but almost sad. "I didn't want to do this."

"Well, maybe not at first, but it was fun, wasn't it?" Torchwick cut in, his eyes raking over Ruby and her team. They came to settle on Blake at the end of the line. He started off, and Ruby lost sight of him momentarily as he walked behind Cardin to come up in front of Blake. "Hey kitty, miss me?"

Torchwick reached into the pocket of his jacket and withdrew a small, red ball of yarn. He held it in front of her face, but Blake just glared at him. Ruby silently willed her to stay put, but Torchwick was openly taunting her.

"I've missed you. I've missed all of you!" Suddenly his face twisted. "I spent two and a half years in that cell." He snarled into her face. "And now you're going to pay for it." Suddenly his face changed from that twisted snarl to his more typical bright and cheery expression. "I hear your kind like yarn! Does kitty want the yarn?" He wagged the ball in front of her face, and Blake's eyes involuntarily twitched after it. Torchwick burst out laughing. He tucked the ball of yarn back into his jacket, then pulled out a small handle. At the press of a button, a nine inch blade snapped out of it, and Ruby tensed as he held it close to Blake, drawing it closer and closer to her gaunt cheeks.

"What do you want?" Ruby snapped, trying to get Torchwick away from her teammates.

"What do I want?" He exclaimed, perking up and turning away from Blake. He walked back towards Ruby. She lost sight of him once more as he walked behind Cardin. "I want you, and all your little friends, to die." He snarled, suddenly an inch from her ear. "When I took this job, it was supposed to be done two and a half years ago. It was supposed to be a nice little job, the kingdom in ruins, and me free to plunder the streets. And then you little brats came along and ruined everything.

"Now, I've been payed well, so I can live with the prison time, but if it weren't for you and your crew of misfits, I'd already be back on the streets doing what I do best. Wouldn't have to deal with all this dust science and Grimm breeding. The job is not that exciting. Not to mention the hit to the rep! Do you have any idea how hard it'll be to find work being the thief that was beaten by a group of teenage girls?" His voice was bitter and full of resentment.

"Cardin, you can't want to work with him." Ruby said, twisting her face to try and look at the larger hunter's eyes. Her neck couldn't twist that much though, so she just hoped that her words would be enough. "He's a criminal. He's a thief and a murderer. He's everything you've been taught to fight against, how can you work with him?" Ruby almost begged.

"Yeah, Cardin, how can you work with me?" Torchwick's voice was mocking as he stood back up. "You see, Red, some people have some common sense. I offered our friend here a choice when he came here with that other group of Beacon brats. Well, I offered both him and that wannabe female sergeant a choice. What was her name again? Chocolate?"

"Coco," Ruby said through gritted teeth.

"Whatever," Torchwick said with a shrug. "Do dead people really need names? Anyways, the choice was either they can die getting munched on by some Grimm, or they could save their teams and join up with mine. The other one," Tochwick chuckled, "Well, she just spat in my face. I took exception to that, and when I showed Cardin our new pet Beowolves, he joined right up with the winning side."

"Cardin," Yang growled from beside Ruby, but the team leader paid her sister no heed. Ruby's mind was whirring, trying to figure something out, any way to get out of the situation. She was drawing a blank though. If Cardin had been scared enough to betray team CFVE, there was no way he'd let Ruby and her teammates go. He said he hadn't wanted to do it, but Cardin was more scared of dying than doing the wrong thing.

"What are you going to do?" Ruby asked, looking up at Torchwick. He had beat them. All things said and done, Torchwick was smart, a professional, and he had beaten them. They were completely at his mercy.

"Well, I'm supposed to question you, find out all of Beacon's secrets, blah, blah, blah... You see, I liked that idea at first. If you didn't answer, it meant I could torture you!" He let out a low, dangerous chuckle. "I was looking forward to that, but the more I though about it, the worse of an idea it seemed to be. See, I made the mistake of underestimating all of you one too many times, so I'm not going to offer you the courtesy of somehow managing to escape."

"So what, you're going to shoot us?" Ruby asked, wondering how many bullets her aura could stop. If she could make it through the first volley from the White Fang, she could maybe use her semblance to get behind them and-

"No," Torchwick said with a sigh. "Far too fast. Not to mention you have your auras. You see, you're not the first huntresses I've been contracted to deal with. The conventional ways of killing people just don't seem to work with them.

"So my next thought was that I have this massive pit filled with Dust-enhanced Grimm," Ruby gasped. Dust-enhanced? That shouldn't be possible, but it would explain the faster than normal Grimm... "And I thought, maybe I'll throw them to the wolves. Then I decided that wasn't personal enough. Watching you get ripped apart would be fun and all, but I want to be the one to do it." Torchwick stepped behind her, and Ruby felt Cardin's grip on her slacken. She immediately began to torque, trying to free herself, but as she twisted something hard smacked into her knee, making her buckle back into a kneeling position. She saw Torchwick pass his cane off to one of the White Fang.

She felt strong hands pick her up and turn her around, holding her off the ground so she was face to face with Torchwick. His one brilliant, emerald green eye locked with her own silver ones, and she saw the venom, malice and hatred in there. He was wearing his fedora, his white suit and his slick shoes. The eyelashes on his visible eye were unnaturally long, and his fire orange hair was swept over his other eye. He looked exactly the way he had three years ago when she had first met him, the same as he had when they had imprisoned him, but now he wasn't running away or getting locked up.

"It's been fun Red," He grinned, taking a step towards the edge of the cliff so that Ruby was hanging over it. She grabbed his wrists, trying to pry his hands off, but he wouldn't let go. He tsk-ed, then nodded to the White Fang with his cane. He rapped Ruby's hands with the cane, and pain shot up her fingers, but Ruby held on. He hit her again, and then again and again, and finally Ruby's fingers gave out. Her arms slumped to her sides.

"Let go of me!" She demanded, but Torchwick just laughed.

"Poor choice of words." He said with a devilish grin. "I'd say we should do this again sometime, Red, but I'm afraid we won't get the chance." Torchwick gave her one last grin with a little wink, and let go.

And then Ruby was falling.

/

 **Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to 'The Pit.' This all takes place in RWBY's fourth year at Beacon, and will be centred around two main conflicts, though the next one won't be seen until next chapter (it will involve team JNPR). Will Ruby survive? Will her team? What are Torchwick and Cinder up to? I'm actually pretty pumped about this one, and I think this has the chance to be a pretty exciting story! I'm looking forward to getting into it! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and if you did, the next one should be out sometime within the next week! If you have any comments or constructive criticism (or even just reviews) I'd love to hear them, because it helps me to improve my writing and make a better piece for all of you. Thanks for reading!**

 **-Unjax**


	2. Chapter 2

It was ash.

He had thought it was snow. Light, fluffy little specks of white dotting the air, drifting softly and lazily through the air, peacefully and innocently, spiralling down towards the ground. But when it alighted there, and Jaune saw on what it lay, he knew that it was not snow. It couldn't be. The pure white would never be able to exist with a place like this, and when it landed on his skin, it didn't melt.

It was ash from the skin and bones of houses that had once been the small town. All around him, the town was in ruins. There was nothing but the skeletal framework of a few buildings left, and for the most part, the village had been made of wood. All of it had burned.

He turned over a charred log with his foot, probably what had once been a support beam. It rolled over and fell away a few feet from the small hill of rubble that Jaune was standing on top of as he surveyed the damage.

The cremated remains of the town weren't the worst part though. There were no human remains that Jaune could see, but he knew that along with such utter destruction, there had to be death. If a family had been caught inside their home... Jaune shuddered thinking about it.

In the blackened ruins around him, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren scrounged through the dusty wreckage to see if they could find any survivors. The part of Jaune that held his humanity hoped that they would find someone, anyone, that they could save, but the logical side of his mind, that detached and focused part of him, knew that it was futile.

He pulled his scroll from his back pocket, expanding it and flicking around a few pages on the screen. A map of Vale came into being on the display. He zoomed in around where he was. This village was one of a group of colonies that had been built on the edge of Forever Fall. Originally, they had been outposts to stop Grimm from straying into the main body of the kingdom, but they had grown to become entire villages. They should have been surrounded by large walls, but it seemed that even those had been burned.

The villages on either side of this one had been assaulted by Grimm, regular Grimm, and had been in contact with the kingdom's huntsmen and huntresses. Reinforcements had been sent there to deal with the Grimm, but Jaune and his team had been sent here, a dead zone of communications. Ozpin had been worried, and his worry had been well founded.

Jaune looked at the log he had kicked down the hill. It had rotated so that the other side was facing upwards now, the exposed side only half charred, and down the middle of it, there was a massive scar in the wood, as if three large claws had slashed through it.

This town had been attacked by Grimm as well, but unlike the other towns, not by normal Grimm.

Jaune had encountered the new Grimm once before. A massive Deathstalker deep below an old outpost way out in Forever Fall when they had first started to learn about Cinder's plans. It didn't move the way Grimm should have. It was faster and stronger than normal. One, single Deathstalker had managed to outmaneuver his entire team, along with team RWBY.

Jaune glanced over to where Nora and Ren were digging through the ruins. Nora was still limping slightly, one side of her body still working to recover from the gaping hole that the Deathstalker had left in her side. She had started to recover her upbeat, bouncy disposition, but there was something in her eyes now, a sort of wariness, that troubled Jaune. Ren had changed too, somewhat more protective of Nora now. He was never more than a few paces from his partner, always ready to help her.

Jaune briefly wondered if it was because Ren no longer trusted him to protect their team.

Jaune was pretty sure he would be right not to.

He looked over at Pyrrha. She was the one who seemed the most unchanged by the encounter on the surface, but she had been changed in the most radical way. After encountering Cinder, she had been pricked by some sort of needle. She had passed out right before they had made their escape, and when she woke up, she hadn't had any aura. Her semblance didn't work, and even the dullest of blades would be able to draw blood from her now.

Jaune had wanted her to stay at Beacon for this mission, but Pyrrha had refused. She had said she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she let her team go out on their own right now. Pyrrha was still the best fighter amongst them, so Jaune had relinquished his request, but he was still wary. Especially if they were going to have to find the Grimm that had done this and hunt them down, he didn't want Pyrrha around. One wrong move, and Pyrrha wouldn't just suffer a loss in her aura, she would lose her life.

He looked around the village once more. The only building still standing was the barracks, which was made of stone rather than wood. If there were any survivors, they would probably be there.

"Ren," He called. "Pyrrha!" Ren and Nora jogged up to him, and Pyrrha strode over swiftly, her movements flowing like water. "We're going to check the barracks. Stay tight, if there are any Grimm left, they might be in there."

He got nods of affirmation from his teammates, and he led the way towards the barracks. It was two stories tall, and probably twice as long as an average house. It looked strong, though Jaune was sure that the fire would have caused damage to it, structural or aesthetic. He drew his sheath from his belt, activated it, and it expanded into a shield. He held it in front of him and kept his sword low and ready in his other hand. Pyrrha fell into step beside him, Akuo raised, and Jaune immediately wanted to tell her to move to the back. He reconsidered though. Grimm were just as likely to attack from the front or the back, and if she was beside Jaune, he could at least use his aura as a shield for her if they did run into any of the creatures.

They passed through the entrance of the barracks. It probably used to have a door, but now there was just a gap in the wall. Shadows dropped over them, and Jaune felt a cold tingle glide down his spine. He did not feel at ease there, and his aura prickled. There were definitely Grimm here. He felt the rest of his team tense up as they walked further into the ruins. They were in a long corridor with small rooms branching off to either side. At the end of the hall, there was a staircase, but they moved slowly through it, checking each room to the side. Jaune was on guard the entire time, his body feeling like a bow drawn taught, about to snap or whip forward and attack.

Finally they were at the end of the hall, and Jaune tentatively took the first step up the spiral staircase. The stone under his foot was rough, and should have provided grip, but the ash that must have been falling through what used to be a shingle roof was making it dusty and slick. He took the steps slowly, making sure that he had his footing before advancing. Behind him, his team was doing the same, all moving warily.

Each time that Jaune raised his foot, he tensed, expecting a Boarbatusk or a Creep to barrel into him, but each time he stepped, nothing happened. He rounded the staircase, looking into what was once a mess hall, and was greeted immediately by a low growl. Stretching out in front of him, illuminated by the light leaking through the ruined shale ceiling, was an expansive room filled with nothing but ash and two large shadowy shapes.

They had glowing red eyes and gem-like red spines. Their muzzles were red, and when Jaune saw what they were feeding on he felt nauseated. He quickly averted his eyes, refocusing again on the Beowolves. They were no larger than regular Beowolves, perhaps a bit smaller, and Jaune figured they were just whelps, but he was still wary. The second he saw those red spines, he was tense.

The Grimm dug their claws into the stone and raised themselves off the ground a bit, their spines hunched and their hackles raised. They began to turn towards Jaune and his team, growling and snarling gnashing at the air. Saliva flew from between their jaws as they took a small, prowling step towards Jaune and his team. The one on the right raised its clawed paw halfway off the ground, loading its back legs.

There was a streak of black and something was clanging off of Jaune's shield. As he felt it slide off he swung out, but as his sword didn't connect with anything. The Grimm was a few steps away from him, growling and pacing to the side. It eyed Jaune, tensing its muscles. Jaune raised his shield, his sword primed to strike. It leapt, and Jaune ducked behind his shield. He felt something collide with it, then a yelp of pain. The Grimm came into focus a few steps away, limping slightly. Jaune could see a dark cut in its flank, and Pyrrha stood tall beside him, Milos primed for another strike.

The second Grimm prowled forward to stand beside its partner in crime. The two snarled at Jaune's team, and Jaune heard Ren and Nora spread out to the side of him. The Grimm looked at the pair, then the one that Pyrrha had injured looked back at Jaune. They split away from one another, moving out to the edges of the room, dividing team JNPR into two pairs.

The only warning Jaune had was a slight tensing of the muscles before he was simultaneously blocking and swinging with his sword. The Grimm's claw slid down his shield, and Jaune felt his aura tense, deflecting a blow away from his ankle. In return though, he felt his sword dig into flesh and back out, and the Grimm shrieked. He heard a grunt of effort behind him, and hoped that Nora and Ren were holding their own.

The Grimm immediately slashed out for Pyrrha's leg, taking her by surprise. It connected with her greave, but Pyrrha was fast. She hopped, letting the claw push her legs out from under her and using the flipping motion to transition into a roll. Jaune twisted to force himself between the Grimm and his partner, whipping around and lashing out to where its head should have been. The Grimm ducked though, and its jaws began to snap towards his leg. Jaune brought his shield down, intending to stop the blow, but he was too slow. The Grimm's jaws clamped onto his leg as Jaune's shield smashed into its head. His aura held, stopping its glistening fangs from snapping into his flesh, and a flash of scarlet and gold flew over his shoulder. Pyrrha stabbed her javelin into the Grimm's shoulder, leaving it behind as she rolled over its back.

It relinquished its hold on Jaune's leg, whipping around in a blur towards Pyrrha. She got her shield up in time and locked her legs, but the force of the blow sent her skidding backwards. It stepped forward, and Jaune lashed out at its leg, trying to hamstring it. It turned back towards Jaune, and he saw Pyrrha dash up its back, ripping her spear out of its shoulder. The Beowolf roared, arching its back in pain. Pyrrha rolled as she hit the ground, twirling out of it to stand next to Jaune.

Both Jaune and the Grimm stared at her for a moment. Jaune, even after three and a half years, was utterly amazed by the way his beautiful, scarlet haired partner moved. She was somewhere between a dancer and a tornado, he thought.

He forced himself to stop thinking about Pyrrha and refocused on the Grimm. It had its eyes focused on Pyrrha, clearly identifying her as the biggest threat. The Grimm in front of him looked a bit more wary now, limping on its wounded shoulder and its fur matted with blood from cuts all over its body. It growled at them, but it wasn't looking at Jaune anymore.

It tensed, and Pyrrha's shield was only halfway up when it slammed into her with its good shoulder. She staggered back, but it didn't give her a break, immediately lashing out at her leg. Pyrrha managed to hop over the claw, twirling in the air to snap her leg out into its head. It continued moving though, head butting her as she landed and forcing her back again. Jaune began to move, dashing towards his partner. The Grimm tried to bite Pyrrha's shoulder, but she ducked to the side, twirling her javelin around to smack it into the Grimm's face. It dug its claw into the ground, reaching its other arm up. Pyrrha was off balance, and Jaune could tell that she wouldn't be able to get her arm up in time to block the attack; not with the Grimm's speed. It brought its arm down towards her, and Jaune leaped, tensing his aura.

He flew through the air, feeling the Grimm's claw connect with his back. It sent him hurtling to the ground, smashing into the hard rock beneath him and cracking it. He heard the familiar sound of Milos being fired off, followed by a dull thud. Shortly thereafter he heard a loud explosion and a whoop.  
He rolled over, looking to make sure Pyrrha was okay. She was standing in front of the Beowolf, now on its back, skewered through the skull by Milos. Her breathing was even, and she hadn't even broken a sweat. There was another explosion, and Jaune saw a mass of black streak through the air and break through the wall, tumbling out of the barracks and into the streets. Nora was hopping around slightly, her massive hammer tucked innocently behind her back.

Pyrrha looked over at him and smiled, though Jaune didn't smile back. She stepped forward and offered him her hand, and he took it, letting her pull him to his feet.

"Thank you, Jaune." She said, as their eyes met. Somewhere, behind the calm, collected, flawless visage, he saw something else. Her eyes were tinted, ever so slightly, by fear.

"What are partners for?" Jaune said with a shrug.

She slung her arms around him and gave him a slight hug, pressing herself against him. Jaune's heart thumped in his chest, hammering against his ribcage. He was sure she must have felt it. He felt her strong, powerful body move against him, and lost complete focus even as he felt her grab his shield arm and flip it over, revealing his scroll with their aura levels on it. Jaune's was in the red. He tried to hide it, but she had seen it.

"I'll stay back next time," She said softly so that Ren and Nora couldn't hear. He nodded as they pulled away from one another. She had put herself in danger by going on the offensive against the Grimm, and if Jaune hadn't thrown himself in front of the blow, Pyrrha could have been severely hurt.

He walked towards the hole in the wall and looked through it towards the smoking remains of the Grimm below him. Two Beowolves against an entire fourth year team, and it had been a fight. It hadn't been the usual, casual dispatching of the beasts. He pulled up the map of Vale again, looking at the pattern of the attacks. It was like a spearhead. A dead zone in the middle edged on either side by reports of attacks. The new Grimm were spearheading the assault, pushing inland while the regular Grimm attacked on the sides. It was an organized invasion.

The Grimm were making an organized, tactical assault on Vale.

/

"Ruby!" Yang screamed as her sister began to fall into the abyss. Weiss watched in horror as the red and black clad girl seemed to fall in slow motion, her eyes open wide in shock. Her cloak flapped by her side as she slowly tumbled through the air. Before she had gone more than a meter though, Weiss felt a sharp kick in her knee, making it buckle. She felt the pain travel up her leg, registering somewhere in her mind, but all she was aware of was the infinitely slow passage of time and her partner dropping through the air. Everything seemed like it was moving through syrup. Beside her, she saw Blake stumble, also being kicked off. Weiss took the eternal moment to observe how Blake's raven locks floated through the air like streamers in a storm. Yang was a fiery ball of light, but even she was already off balance, getting shoved off the edge even as she turned, glimmering, red eyes burning, to obliterate the man who had doomed her sister to die. As she lashed out though, she found she was too far from her target, already over that infinite drop. She was falling.

All four of them were falling.

Falling into the darkness without an end.

But the rational part of Weiss' brain, the one that wasn't working in slow motion, knew that it had an end. Everything had an end.

And the world snapped back into motion. Weiss yelled as she flipped through the air, twirling end over end, falling into the blackness. Fear gripped her mind as she realized what was happening. She heard a devilish laughter cackle through the air from above, but her mind didn't register who it was from. Her mind was caught, frozen with the fact that when she reached the bottom, she would die.

They were all going to die.

Ruby, Yang, Blake, her teammates, her _family..._ How could the world allow this to happen? How was this fair?

There was a yell of rage from beside her, and a wave of heat blasted over Weiss. Yang, burning like a shooting star, was falling beside her, still raging despite the fact that she was dead. They were all dead; they just hadn't realized it yet.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Weiss registered that that was a second. That moment right there, where she realized that they were dead, was one second after they had been pushed.

Weiss closed her eyes for a moment, almost willing herself to find the bottom, for it to end. Each fraction of a second was an eternity, gripping her mind, pulling all rational thought away from her. Her reason paled with the overwhelming, devastating fact that she was going to die.

Weiss thought death had been her companion for a long time, since she was a child. The SDC board members, distant family, servants and bodyguards, even Neptune... Each of their faces flashed through her mind, kindly smiles and stern looks, all of them as beautiful as the last. She missed all of them, each memory crushing her chest like a sledgehammer. Everyone that came into her life was in danger. She had been born into the icy grips of death, and it had always been just a matter of time until it reclaimed her, and anyone around her. She trained to be as perfect as she could to delay her death, even if only by a day.

So she had never let anyone get close. She wouldn't have to be hurt if there was no one for her to lose. She had put on her mask of ice, and anytime someone had tried to be friends with her, Weiss had pushed them away. She was petrified that if anyone spent time with her, they would be ripped out of her world. It made it easy to snap at them coldly; punishing them for the pain they would inevitably cause in the future.

That was two seconds. her mental clock ticked on.

And then she had come to Beacon, and Ruby, that damned little _child_ , hadn't let herself be pushed away. She, and her boisterous sister, and even Blake, a _faunus_ , a member of the _White Fang_ , someone Weiss should absolutely _hate_ , had all wormed their way into Weiss' life. She had broken her unspoken rule: she had let herself care.

And then she had been even more terrified; terrified of loosing the people she had come to care for.

Each laugh in the mess hall, each cheer at a tournament, each and every day spent as a team, made Weiss more and more terrified. She knew what was going to happen eventually. Her mind whirled through the maelstrom of memories that she had made since arriving at Beacon, each one tinged with the black hues of death.

And now it was happening.

That was three seconds.

Everyone was dying.

Weiss could not let it happen.

She took a deep breath, knowing that the worst part was not knowing how long the drop was. If it was only another second, they would all die, but a thought sparked in Weiss' mind. She just might be able to save them.

She sprawled her arms out, letting the wind connect with her body, slowing her just a little bit. She closed her eyes, focusing her mind, drawing on the swirling currents of energy that weaved through her body. She could have made glyphs for herself, all the way down to the bottom, but she wouldn't be able to support them for three other people in front or behind her. She would run out of energy before they got more than a few meters down.

So she was going to do the next best thing. She was going to slow them down. Her semblance would drain her aura, maybe even deplete it, but it might slow the descent of the others enough that when they hit the bottom, their auras would save them. They were all strong, and Weiss knew that they could survive. If she died because of her efforts, than so be it. It seemed like a good way to spite the world; taking control of her mortality before it had a chance to rip away everyone she loved.

She unleashed the whirlwind of energy, splaying her hand to make it expand into a massive glyph that spanned half the diameter of the pit. The others were falling slightly below her, and Weiss watched Ruby hit the dimly glowing red glyph. As her leader hit it, she slowed down, the glyph bubbling to soften the impact, her hair and cloak dragging through it like it was molasses. Weiss passed through it a moment later, feeling the slight tug of her change in momentum.

Even as she moved through it, her hand was splayed, and the aura flowed out of her, spreading into another wide circle. They passed through it, and already Weiss had made another, then another.

She felt energy draining from her body as she continually summoned her glyphs, but she could also see it was working. They were moving slower than they had been, though still much too fast to survive an impact. Weiss felt her energy pour away as she made another glyph. She thought she heard someone scream her name, or yell at her, but her ears were ringing now, filled with an incessant buzzing. She had heard it once before, after fighting a massive knight in the White Castle. She briefly thought of the scar on her cheek, and then laughed a little. She had been so worried as a child about that scar and how it marred her face. It seemed insignificant now that she was going to die. The laugh made her stomach cramp up a little, and Weiss knew that that was the start of it.

It was the logical thing to do, and her father had drilled reason into her from a young age. Reason and logic. They were like reflexes to Weiss now; it was why she was so good at school and combat. Everything in the world followed a logical process. Falling, for instance, could be measured. By the three second mark of their fall, they would have been traveling at half their terminal velocity. Five seconds after that, they would have been near the top speed that a human can fall at. If Weiss hadn't done what she was doing right now, her team would have hit the bottom of the pit so hard their bones would have shattered and no amount of aura could save them.

Her decision followed a logical progression as well. She could have saved herself, or she could expend much more energy to save three others. Three lives to one. There was no question as to what the correct answer was. Though it was admittedly a lot harder to look at objectively when it was her life that was on the losing end of the equation.

Weiss summoned another glyph, feeling the sweat beading up on her brow. It streaked down her face as she summoned yet another glyph, and stung her eyes. She felt her stomach wrench as she summoned a third. Weiss would have puked, but she didn't spare the attention it would have required. She just clenched her teeth, ignored the fact that her vision was going blurry, and summoned another sigil.

This time the pain came from her heart. It felt like someone had stuck her with a white hot poker, searing the meaty flesh inside of her and constricting it. Weiss gasped involuntarily, tears springing to her eyes without consent. She lost focus for a second, curling up slightly, and the glyph dimmed. They passed through it without slowing down, and fear clutched Weiss' stomach. She thought she could see a soft yellow glow below them, a reflection from Yang's semblance on the ground, and Weiss forced herself to straighten her arm again, splaying her fingers once more. She bit her lip, focusing on the sharp pain rather than the intense ache of her chest, and summoned another glyph.

Pain exploded through her body, her semblance overdrawing on her aura, making her scream in agony. She curled into a ball, trying to shield herself from the thundering arcs of searing agony that flew through her body, consuming everything in her world. Her vision flashed white, and Weiss was sure her heart was going to explode. It constricted, wracking her body with what felt like a million jagged pieces of broken glass rushing through her veins.

The bright white flash faded, though. It was replaced by a yellow fire, burning brilliantly, before the edges of her vision began to dim. Even as she began to lose consciousness though, the pain stayed. It ravaged her entire being, as if her flesh and bone was being hewn off of her in great slices. It devoured her. Her sight dimmed more, and the last thing she saw was a brilliant ball of yellow light. She felt something, strong and powerful, wrap around her body, though the contact just made Weiss nerves writhe in even more pain. She squirmed, knew she was about to hit the ground and-

/

 **Enter team JNPR! I have a lot of things planned for them in the upcoming chapters, working the war above ground. And what's happening with team RWBY? And Weiss? I'll be honest, I was enjoying writing from her POV, who knows if we'll see that again... Anyways, I hope you're enjoying reading the story as much as I am writing it! So far this has kept up a good pace, hoping to keep it going! As such, I will do my best to release within a week, but if a chapter isn't working, it won't be released until its good. I want to do this story right! Thanks for reading, and any comments, suggestions or feedback is greatly appreciated. (Also, sincere apologies about the CFVE/CFVY mixup. I butchered that one :( )**


	3. Chapter 3

Yang wrapped her arms around Weiss, clinging tightly to her even as the girl screamed. She whipped the team's princess in front of her, making sure her own back was lined up with the ground. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth.

She slammed into the ground, taking the full force of both hers and Weiss' momentum. She gasped as she felt her aura flare, but it couldn't take the fall for both her and the white haired idiot who had just tried to kill herself. Her aura was stripped away from her body, devoured by the earth.  
Yang felt her semblance kick in as the earth shifted around her. Stone and dust went flying, and pain rocketed through Yang's body. She felt the impact dispersing though, flying through her body and fueling her limbs. It felt like someone had poured molten rock through her veins, lighting them up and making her burn more than ever before. She had to stop the fire somehow, or Weiss would get torched.

Even as she felt her impromptu path through the rocks coming to a halt, she reached into Weiss' belt. Her sister's partner was completely useless at this point, unconscious and devoid of any and all aura she might have had. The little stunt she had pulled might still cost her her life.

Yang yelled as she felt the fire try to pulse through her system, suppressing it to make sure it didn't leach through her skin into the rocks and Weiss. It roiled around inside her rebelliously, trying to break free of her constraint. Yang felt like a star about to go supernova. Yang found what she was looking for and withdrew the phial of ice dust. She hoisted Weiss above her as the dust started to settle around them, and kicked her partway up the crater they had made. She raised the small tube of glass above her, then snapped it into her stomach. The glass shattered, shards digging into her skin as the purified embodiment of ice settled on her bare skin.

That's when the pain hit. She was simultaneously being frozen and burned. All her skin's nerves fired at the same time, overloading her mind. The pain was so extreme, Yang pulled her scarf into her mouth, biting down on it as she writhed against the sharp rocks. The edges of her vision started to go dark, and Yang smacked her fist into the ground to try and fight it back. Rock exploded around her from even that slight movement, and Yang squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the freeze-burn she was feeling. The pain was trying to black out the world, but liquid ice flew through her system, forcing her eyes open.

The world was tinted red. Yang struggled to think clearly, but when her semblance started to take over, her rational mind took a back seat. She was huffing, trying to fight back the broiling, burning energy flaring through her system, but she was losing. She could feel it seeping into her aura, the immense energy she had gained from smacking into the ground needed to be released, but it had nowhere to go.

Yang realized she was on her knees curled into a ball. She forced herself not to move, feeling the fire roar around her aura, and she tried to calm down. She let the energy run wild for a moment, flaring around her like a crashing wave, scorching stone, and relaxed. Her muscles began to unfurl even as a firestorm of superheated wind blasted around Yang, but she just closed her eyes, focusing on the inner flame, that core of hot energy that had been burning inside her stomach like the wick on a candle since she was born, calming it down. She couldn't get rid of the energy, but maybe she could contain it, force it back inside of her. It would roil around inside until it was released, and Yang didn't know how long she could hold it for, but if she could keep that energy under control, she wouldn't kill her team right then and there.

She focused on her heartbeat, racing far too fast. She calmed her breathing, felt it slow down, and as her heart began to come under control, Yang felt the fire around her start to die. She felt its edges, pulling them in towards her, making all the energy she had released collapse in on herself. It latched onto that inner core of flame, Yang's wick, making it thicker and more powerful. Her skin heated up as she reigned in the torrential fire, but Yang didn't mind. The heat had never bothered her.

She took one last, shaky breath before raising one leg so she was kneeling. She huffed it out, then stood. Her legs shook for a moment as the energy shuddered through her, but Yang held it in. She took a step, and the energy rebelled. Yang knew the worst of it was over though, so she took another step. With each movement, she herded the flame, learning to control it. By

the time she was clambering through the crater she had made towards Weiss, it was just apart of her core. Yang felt like she was on a caffeine buzz, but other than that, she reigned in the fire well.

Weiss was slumped over a pile of jagged stones that had been hewn from the earth around them. There were small cuts and bruises all over her, but nothing looked serious. All of her limbs were in the right places, and nothing seemed horribly bent or twisted. Her body was fine.

Yang knelt next to her teammate, reaching forward lightly. The second her fingers touched the heiress' shoulders though, a shock of cold ran up her arm. The fire inside Yang pulsed in response, and Yang felt nauseous. She forced it back to the core, deep inside her belly, then reached forward again.

Weiss looked fine, but her skin was ice cold. Yang gingerly pulled her from the ground, carrying her bridal style, working to keep her semblance from raging against the cold chill. She started to scale the sloped, cracked rock.

"Yang!" She heard Blake call desperately. She would have recognized that voice anywhere, and she perked up immediately. Blake's face flushed with relief as their eyes met, and Yang smiled warmly at her partner, having it returned. A little part of her twisted that the smiles didn't mean the same to both of them, but she ignored it and kept walking. A moment later, Ruby's head popped up beside Blake's and the two urged Yang on.

Despite the splintered stones and the steep slope, Yang made it to the edge of her own personal crater within a minute. She clambered out of it, handing Weiss to Blake briefly. Blake seemed to struggle under the weight slightly, so the moment that Yang had hauled herself back onto level ground she took the white-haired girl back in her arms.

"We need to go." Blake said urgently, turning towards Ruby. Yang looked at her sister, who was staring up above them. Her eyes seemed to refocus on Blake and Yang, and she looked at the two partners.

"Why? It's not like anyone's following us down here." She said, her voice a little hollow. It was the same voice that Ruby had had when she heard about Summer. Yang made a mental note to check in on her sister later, but Blake's voice held urgency.

"I don't know what this place is," Blake began. "But I have some experience being dropped into places I don't want to be. Torchwick mentioned that there were Grimm down here, and with your little light show," She turned and gave Yang a dark smirk. "Anything that would want us dead is probably on its way here right now."

"What about Weiss?" Yang asked, looking down at the unconscious heap in her arms.

"We can help her later." Ruby cut in. "For now, lets get out of here."

No sooner than said were they moving off. Yang walked behind Ruby and Blake took up the rear, Gambol Shroud drawn. Yang was relieved to see that Blake and Ruby both had their weapons still, and Myrtenaester was stuck firmly in Weiss' belt.

"Here, Blake." Yang called softly, tilting Weiss so that Myrtenaester's handle was presented to her partner. "She's not going to be using it."

Blake eyed the weapon for a moment, then nodded, tucking her sheath back onto her backpack. She took its handle, and held the slight rapier in her hand. The dainty weapon looked odd replacing Gambol Shroud's bulky sheath, but Yang knew that Weiss' weapon could be lethal. Blake didn't have as much experience fighting with dust weapons, but Yang had the nervous feeling that they would be needing all the extra firepower they could get down there.

Ruby led the way towards a spot on the edge of the pit's circle where Yang could see an opening, the wide mouth of a cave. She did a quick spin as she jogged, seeing that similar holes dotted the entire lining of the pit. It looked to her like a system of tunnels that had been cored by whatever massive machine had created the massive drop they had somehow managed to survive. It was only thanks to Weiss that they had.

Yang looked down at the Schnee Dust Company's heiress. She knew that Weiss was a good person. She was strong and smart, but she had never been the kindest. Weiss point out facts, regardless of who they offended. On top of which, she was always sure of what she did. Yang wondered if the white haired girl could do something that she wouldn't be able to immediately justify. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for her to guide herself down to the ground using the glyphs, but instead she had very nearly killed herself lowering the entire team to the ground.

Dust, she _still_ might die.

There had been a few classes covering aura deprivation and overuse of semblances. Yang had never worried much; her semblance basically fueled itself and recharged her aura, but she had payed attention to keep tabs on her partner. Yang knew that Blake would push herself past breaking point to achieve any goal she had. Blake had an almost superhuman drive, but it was also her biggest flaw. It had nearly destroyed her back in first year when they were searching for Torchwick. So, Yang had listened to the effects of overusing one's aura.

From what she understood, it was basically like sprinting a marathon, but in the span of a single heartbeat. Intense, full body pain, loss of consciousness, strain on internal organs, particularly the heart, and loss of consciousness. About half the cases of excessive aura use ended in death, though the death could be immediate from a heart attack, or drawn out over longer as the body failed to repair itself.

Yang breathed in a heavy sigh. She looked up at the ring of light shinning through from the top of the pit. It was bright, but Yang looked anyways. She would have given anything to be up where the sun was rather than way down here. With the world lined by massive walls, it seemed like nothing more than a small pinprick of light, but when she squinted, she could see the sun burning above her.

She sighed and turned back to follow her sister into the tunnel. She didn't realize it then, but it was the last time she would see the sun for a very long time. She followed her team into the depths of the tunnel, her body glowing with a warm golden light. She noted it absently, realizing that perhaps the energy she had suppressed was finding its own way out.

/

They had pushed her team.

Ruby was almost shellshocked. Team CRDL, people she had known for years, had pushed her team. They were supposed to be some of the good guys; the heroes that made everything better. They weren't the villains. Good people didn't get coerced into doing bad things.

Yet they had.

Ruby had dedicated her entire life to becoming the best she could be. When she had first met Blake, the raven haired faunus had told her that the world wasn't like a fairy tale. There weren't always neat and tidy endings. Things didn't always fall perfectly into place. Ruby had never wanted to accept that. She knew that sometimes bad things happened, it was something she had learned when she was a child, but she had worked to make sure that things like that would happen to fewer people.

She didn't want a little girl to wake up screaming at night because her mother had died. She didn't want someone to have to be sung lullabies so that they can fall asleep because its the only way for them to forget the horror for a moment. She didn't want anyone to have to go through what she had had to go through.

In her time at Beacon, she had grown hopeful. They had defeated Torchwick in first year, the kingdom hadn't faced any major threats since the breach, and everyone in her classes seemed to seek a similar goal as she did. Even Blake, who was always so cynical, had occasionally made a comment with a hopeful wisp to her voice when talking about the future, or Sun, or feeling like she had found a family. Ruby briefly wondered if Blake would ever talk like that again.

Even team CRDL had become more civilized. The group of loudmouthed, racist brutes had been tamed at Beacon. They had been humbled to the point where Ruby had seen them working alongside some faunus students without a moment's hesitation. She had thought that even they would help make the world a better place; to see that it could be a bit more like a fairy tale.

But then they had done _this._

They had betrayed CFVE, probably costing them their lives. After that, they had lured RWBY to the pit and sentenced them to what they had believed was death. On a certain level, Ruby understood it. She would do almost anything to protect her team, but she would never willingly harm others so they could survive. They would hate her for it almost as much as Ruby would hate herself. She doubted Cardin had wanted to do what he did, but he had done it willingly.

The problem that Ruby had was that she _knew_ Cardin and his team. They had been working together for years. They were _supposed_ to be some of the good guys. They weren't like Roman, or Cinder, or even Emerald and Mercury. They weren't people who were inherently bad. They shouldn't have been anyways. They didn't murder or steal.

She looked at Weiss, laying so still on the cold, almost obsidian ground of the cavern that they had made camp in. Her ivory skin stood out amongst the dark surroundings, reflecting the slight, gold glow from Yang. Her ice blue eyes hadn't opened for nearly two hours now, and Ruby's stomach churned in worry. Weiss was her partner and one of her team members. Ruby had seen her go up against packs of Beowolves and Ursai all by herself, but now she looked slight, fragile and vulnerable. She looked like she was on the brink of death, teetering on the edge, about to fall in.

Maybe CRDL were a team of murderers.

Maybe the world wasn't simple anymore.

"Blake? Yang?" She called to the remaining members of team RWBY.

"Yeah?" Her sister called back.

"How are you two feeling?"

Ruby was pretty sure she knew. Their auras were still recovering, Blake hadn't slept properly in weeks, not since Sun had died... And Yang had taken the fall for two people. By all rights, Ruby's sister should be dead. Since crawling out of that crater, Yang had been glowing and had a red ring around her iris. It looked like she was ready to burst into flame at any moment, and she hadn't even made a pun since they had fallen. It probably didn't help that no one else had spoken a word since either.

Blake was doing no better. Her eyes, which had already been sunken and weary, were now also brimming with anger. Blake looked she wanted to break something beautiful, but also like she wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. Ruby's whole team was broken, in one way or another, and she knew, somewhere deep down, that this hellhole was going to make it so much worse. For once, Ruby was sure that it was going to get darker before it got brighter.

"Peachy," Yang said in a hollow voice, confirming Ruby's fears.

"What is it?" Blake asked, tidily avoiding the question.

"We need to figure out how to get out of here." Ruby stated simply.

"Yeah, but how? We're kilometers below the surface." Yang questioned.

"Was it just me, or did this place look like it had tunnels?" Blake said.

"They wouldn't make a place like this without a way in and out. I figure there's some way through the tunnels to the top." Ruby said, though she looked around the cavern dubiously. There were dozens, maybe hundreds, of dead end tunnels lining the walls of the main chamber they had come from. It could take a very long time to find the right way.

"How do we find it though?" Yang said, pointing out the flaw with Ruby's idea.

"We should start somewhere." Blake replied with her arms crossed.

"We can't move Weiss yet," Ruby cut in. "She needs to rest."

"I don't know how much time we can spare." Blake said, slinging off the backpack she had carried with her. Yang pulled her own off, as did Ruby. Weiss' was crushed.

"Let's count up food and water, see how much we have."

The next few minutes were spent organizing. There were three explosive charges, and enough food and water for two weeks, if they strictly rationed it. That put them on a clock, and Ruby immediately wanted to sprint out of the cavern and start using her semblance to search for an exit. It would be impractical though. Using her semblance made her too hungry, and they couldn't expend much energy. She looked down at her partner, who could have been a statue for how still she was. Weiss was always the best at things like this. Blake could think on her feet well, and Yang was probably the most resilient of them, but it was Weiss who knew how to think through these kinds of problems. So Ruby asked herself what her partner would do.

"Blake, Yang, can you two scout? I want to know a general direction to go once we get Weiss better." Ruby would have liked to go herself, but they still had no idea what was scuttling around in the darkness of the tunnels. Blake was the stealthiest of them so she would be less likely to be noticed, and Yang was literally glowing. Ruby would have liked to go herself, but Yang might draw too much attention if she stayed with Weiss. On her own, Yang could escape and run and fight, but if she was with Weiss, she wouldn't be able to get away. In addition, if Weiss was attacked, Ruby could make the speediest getaway. Not two mention that the other two would actually be able to see in the dark. Ruby was the best choice to stay behind.

"Ruby, we might have to get moving before Wei-"

"I know," Ruby cut Blake off, not wanting her friend to end the phrase. "We give her two days, then hull her out of here no matter what. You two should be back before da-" Ruby cut herself off, realizing they had no real way to judge time aside from their scrolls, which would run out of power before long. "Don't be too long."

"So, scouting in pairs?" Blake asked, looking at Yang.

"We can cover more ground if we separate." Yang rebutted in a stone cold voice, not meeting eyes with her partner. Ruby would have expected a reply like that from Weiss, but definitely not from Yang. Ruby saw hurt flash briefly across Blake's face, but the faunus hid it will. Ruby frowned briefly.

"Alrighty then, team RWBY!" Ruby smiled, and did her best to chirp the words and sound cheery. "Let's get to work."

"Alright," Blake said, her gaze flickering over Yang for a moment before she strutted over to the food stash. She took two days worth of personal rations and put them in a bag, then tossed it to Yang. She did the same for a second bag, and slung it over her own shoulders.

"Just in case?" Yang asked, but Blake didn't respond before walking away. Blake strutted towards the end of the cavern towards one of the two tunnels that exited the tunnel that they hadn't come from. WIthin a matter of seconds, she was gone into the murky depths of the shadows within seconds.

"She's going to be okay, right?"

"I don't know." Yang's voice was full of worry and fear,and that something else that Ruby could never quite place. _I don't know if she ever will be._ Ruby thought morosely to herself.

"You should get going, sis."

"Yeah, I should. We'll be back though Ruby, I promise. It'll be alright." Yang gave Ruby a big hug, and Ruby hugged her sister back tightly.

"I know," Ruby said confidently. She didn't; it was just one of those things they would say to one another. The same sorts of things they would say when Summer went missing. _It'll be alright, Ruby. Don't worry, we'll see mom again._

The two broke apart, and Yang slung her pack over one shoulder. She started walking away, and soon the soft gold glow faded from the lightless cavern. Ruby suddenly felt very alone.

She pulled a small phial of dust from her backpack. She built a small circle of rocks and stood the dust up inside it, then used her aura to spark the top layer. A small flame popped into existence, burning evenly, casting just enough light to show the ghostly pale face of Weiss and her small contours. Sadness and fear gripped her stomach tightly, and Ruby slid down a rock to sit next to her partner. She pulled her knees to her chest, feeling very much like she had on those nights after her mother had died, but now Yang wasn't there to comfort her. She and Blake were wandering through the darkness, not knowing what might be waiting for them, and Ruby was looking down at her partner, her closest friend for the past three and a half years, who was dying.

And there was nothing that Ruby could do but watch the small flame's light dance across her partner's ivory skin, flickering out of existence for brief moments before reigniting. For the first time, Ruby found some sort of resemblance between her partner's life and a flame.

/

 **So... Not as much action in that chapter, for which I apologize. Honestly though, this chapter feels important. Yang's semblance going into overdrive (wonder if that will ever come back...), and a little bit of characterization for Ruby. There will probably be a lot of light and shadow imagery coming in the 'Pit' chapters for the next little bit, but I'll try not to go to overboard. Next chapter we'll see a bit more JNPR, for those who have missed them. Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed the chapter! Feedback is always welcome as well!**

 **-Unjax**


	4. Chapter 4

_Neo grinned. She loved this part. The look of surprise, the complete helplessness, the countless emotions flickering over the person's face, and at the bottom of all, the fact that she had complete control over the situation. She withdrew her blade and sheathed it in her parasol. She let the body fall, making a noise as it hit the ground, calling to her victim's partner. Three quick steps brought her to the window, which was promptly thrown open. She activated her semblance, ended up in the bathroom. She heard quick footsteps that suddenly stopped. Her next victim would have noticed the blood. It would probably be struggling to breath right about now. She found that they often did that. Gasping for breath and the like._

 _She envied them it, just a little. She had never felt that way for someone. She had seen plenty of people she knew die, but never had their deaths affected her terribly. She hadn't been short of breath because of the realization that the world she was living in no longer held someone who made such a difference to her; someone who was such a pivotal part of that world. She supposed it was because she realized a truth that most of them didn't, that the world didn't care for them and never would, that they would all die, but she still thought it would have been nice to feel that strongly for someone. At least for the experience._

 _She unsheathed her blade again before reactivating her semblance. She materialized a few steps behind her newest victim. It had come down the hallway, a one way corridor where no one could hide, so the fact that it was looking out the open window stood to reason. It was the only possible place that Neo could have gone._

 _Well, if she couldn't teleport._

 _She almost laughed, but just grinned instead. She wouldn't get to see this one's face, but that was alright. She had seen... Twenty-three others at this point. In one night. She supposed that was probably a record. She was the only one who could do it, of course. She had entered the business as Torchwick's protégée, but she held a set of skills he never could. They had first shared their cruel intellect and skill, but Neo had surpassed him while he had been locked behind bars. Not intellectually perhaps, but her skills? Definitely. Torchwick had been able to dispatch a few huntsmen and huntresses in his day, but his prime was behind him. And never would he ever have been able to kill twenty-three in one night._

 _A little jab, through the cervical vertebrae and the windpipe, and suddenly that number was twenty-four._

 _This time Neo did laugh._

 _She was uniquely qualified for this job: uniquely naturally gifted. Her semblance was incredibly useful. Most of them she had met that night were much, much stronger than her, but they had also never fathomed that someone could materialize behind them while they were brushing their teeth. Or while they were in bed, or eating. Teleportation was what made all of it possible, and Neo had gotten faster at it over the years._

 _She reached into her pocket and withdrew one of the clear dust crystals stored within it, the last of three. She relaxed, took a breath, and then touched the stone with her aura. It crumbled to sand as the energy inside of it seeped into her limbs._

 _Teleportation and Cinder's new dusts. Two ingredients, and that's all it took to get rid of some of Vale's greatest heroes. Neo felt it was poetic that the heroes would fall so quickly. All their grand feats, all the long stories, and they had all died so suddenly. No epic struggles, no heroic sacrifices that could be told of their deaths. At the end of the day, they were just as vulnerable as anyone else. They died. Just like everybody else._

 _The circumstances had been perfect, and Neo doubted they'd be able to charge enough crystals to replicate the feat again, but it didn't matter. Weakened as it was now, Vale was poised to fall. With the Grimm, the dust and the White Fang's cooperation, they couldn't lose. Neo was good at choosing the winning side, and save that, she was good at making it the winning side._

 _Neo activated her semblance one last time, and teleported into the streets. Shadows, her best friends, slid over her as she strolled into the night. She blinked and her eyes were pink. Pink was a color for celebrations, and this was a night to remember. She wouldn't be caught. She doubted she_ could _be caught, and by the time the morning rolled around she'd be long gone._

 _And then? Then, Vale would wake up and realize just how weak it really was._

/

"Pawn to E4." Ozpin instructed through the scroll as Jaune sat on the smooth seat of the Bullhead. He sighed heavily. He didn't know why the headmaster insisted they kept playing these chess games. The Grimm were running through the countryside, and he was sitting on a plane playing chess against someone that could beat him with ease. He wanted to talk about strategies, how to beat or slow down the Grimm, but when he had brought it up, Ozpin had merely told him to pull out the small magnetic chess board he had given Jaune before he left on the mission.

"Ozpin?" He asked, finally being overcome with his frustration.

"Yes mister Arc?" His voice was slightly distorted by the ear buds Jaune was wearing that attached to his scroll.

"Why are we playing chess?" Jaune asked with an exasperated sigh. As he always did though, Ozpin just gave him a knowing smile instead of answering.

"You're two moves away from checkmate." Ozpin pointed out. Jaune knew, he had noticed it with Ozpin's last move, but it just frustrated him more. Ozpin had been making smart moves, but not the kind he usually did. Playing chess against Ozpin was normally incredibly difficult. The headmaster would twist Jaune's plans against him before they were fully formed, anticipating every move on the board. The man was a genius; that much couldn't be questioned. But it left the larger question. Why the _hell_ were they playing a game when people were dying?

Furthermore, why would Ozpin _let_ him win? This time, Jaune had been able to see what the pieces had to do before they were moved. It was like a mechanical problem, each piece a gear or a lever. If he moved one piece one way, Ozpin's would have to respond in turn. It had been easy, and chess with Ozpin had never been easy. Jaune had been doing better, but he knew he was far from truly beating the professor.

"So I win." Jaune replied, the anger sharpening his voice to an edge. Ozpin paused for a moment, surveying the board via the small video feed on the scroll. He was silent, studying the board, almost as if he'd missed something, and just when Jaune was about to ask what, the headmaster straightened up again.

"You do. Now, reset the pieces."

"Proff-"

"Jaune, you need to know that what is happening has a purpose. You may not understand it yet, but what we're doing right now is very important."

"Um, we're playing a game." Jaune grumbled even as he replaced all the pieces in their original positions. In less than a minute, everything was set.

"We're manipulating a system." Ozpin answered. "Remove a bishop and your queen." Jaune frowned at him. That's not how chess was played. He did as he was told though. His board looked much emptier without the two pieces. All the normal openings he would have used would be useless.

"Why?"

Here Ozpin didn't say anything for a long time. Jaune's eyes took the moment to flick around the cramped room. Nora was sleeping against Ren's shoulder, drooling slightly, but the pink eyed huntsman didn't seem to mind. He just sat there, reading a green bound book with Nora's headphones on. Jaune admired how he could shut himself off from the fighting until he had to reengage again. Jaune found that after fighting, such as with the Grimm, it sometimes took him weeks to stop thinking about it. Ren, on the other hand, seemed to be able to just switch that part of him on and off. He fought when he needed to fight, and the rest of the time he was just a normal student.

Pyrrha appeared a bit more contemplative. She was looking out the window in the side of the Bullhead. He could dimly see her vibrant green eyes reflected in the glass, and her soft lips were slightly parted. She had earbuds in, a present from Nora on her birthday the previous year, and was tuned out. Her long scarlet hair framed her perfect features, and Jaune let himself smile as he looked at her. He didn't know why, but he always felt like smiling when he saw her.

"Because I've made a horrible mistake Jaune." Ozpin's voice called Jaune's attention back to the scroll. He looked at the headmaster curiously. "I've made many before, and I fear I might still have some left to make, but this one might be the worst."

"What happened?" Jaune asked, immediately thinking of Ruby and her team. From what he knew, their mission was dangerous, and if they had gotten in trouble, it could be bad.

"We lost contact with team CRDL and team RWBY. They were supposed to check in every day at six, and I haven't heard anything from either of them since they left."

"That's two teams though. There's no way we lost two teams."

"Did you not think it odd that Cardin asked for Ruby's help, specifically?" Jaune nodded. He had. Immediately after it happened, in fact. Cardin had always hated Ruby's team just because they were so damn _good_. Pyrrha was an incredible fighter, probably the strongest in the school, but team RWBY was the most dangerous force Beacon had at its disposal. It was why he had silenced himself when he thought it was weird that Cardin had asked. If the mission was dangerous enough to claim the lives of team CFVE, four fully fledged hunters, then Cardin probably wanted the best by his side.

"Yeah, but then they're also the best, right?"

"That they are." Ozpin said, and he suddenly looked very old. It only lasted for a moment, but Jaune hadn't missed it. "Tell me, if you were trying to bring the kingdoms to their knees, where would you start?"

"With the huntsmen and huntresses." Jaune answered immediately. That's what would make the most sense.

"Precisely. I received... Disturbing reports this morning. They detailed accounts of several murders that happened last night, just when RWBY and CRDL went dark."

"Huntsmen and huntresses?" Jaune inquired, a nervous pit forming in his stomach. "Amongst a few military authorities, yes." That sounded like more than ' _several'_ to Jaune, but he didn't ask. He really didn't want to know.

"And what does this have to do with Ruby?"

"You don't find it a coincidence that Ruby's team was called away, asked for specifically, at the same time as all these murders occurred? Beacon has been one of Vale's primary defense forces in the past against Grimm incursions, and now that the hunters have taken a hit to their numbers, we would play an even bigger part. If the first thing you weaken is the huntsmen and huntresses, the second would be their replacements. The next closest things."

"Students," Jaune said, the pit in his stomach roiling. He didn't want to hear the words that he knew Ozpin would say.

"And the best students?"

"Team RWBY." Jaune said, the words heavy and laden. Jaune felt like he was going to be sick.

"I underestimated our opponents. I didn't think anyone would stoop so low as to turn students against students, _children_ on one another, but I was wrong, it seems." The bitter sound of Ozpin's voice matched the bitter taste in Jaune's mouth. His stomach dropped, not even bothering to just churn anymore. It felt like they were hitting some aggressive turbulence, but the Bullhead flew perfectly evenly.

"Oh, _dust._ Cardin?"

"I doubt he had a choice. His life or RWBYs'." Ozpin looked old again, but this time it lasted more than a second. He looked like an old man, weathered by his years, but he took a sip of his coffee and suddenly seemed like the strong headmaster that Jaune knew. "So, now along with Neptune and Sun, we have lost our most mobile and effective force on the field. We need to learn to play without a queen."

Jaune looked down at the smooth metal of the pieces. The ones on his side were stainless steal the shone brightly, while Ozpin's were a dark set of tarnished metal. It suddenly made a lot more sense why he didn't have a queen, though he still wasn't sure why they were playing chess.

"What do we do about the villages?" Jaune asked as he tried to ignore the numbness spreading into his limbs at the news he had just received, but it came anyways. His hands shook as he moved a pawn.

He had involuntarily memorized the map of the region he was in. If the spearhead of Grimm continued, they would reach another few towns by the following day, and though he had sent warnings to the villages, he doubted they would be prepared. Especially those caught in the middle with the new Grimm.

"B-8 to C-6." Ozpin said, and Jaune made the move. "What do you think we should do?"

"Evacuate everyone, fall back. Get the civilians as far away from the forest as possible. Have all the huntsmen and huntresses and whatever other troops we have fall back. While the Grimm are advancing, we prepare defenses and reinforcements, then meet the tide head on under our own circumstances. We control the field."

"A good plan in the long run." Ozpin said approvingly. "I've already asked Ironwood to send some of his fleet to assist us, and they will meet you here," There was a slight beeping on Jaune's scroll and he knew it was the coordinates of some small town or village. "But what about the towns tomorrow?"

Jaune thought for a moment, absently moving a pawn. He realized a moment before he removed his finger that he still didn't have a queen, and the move made no sense without one. He replaced the pawn, then moved his bishop instead. He wished he still had two. He wondered how Ozpin felt when it was actual lives he had lost. Jaune knew how it felt to him.

He thought on the question instead of thinking about team RWBY. They were strong, they were the _best_ , and they were okay. They had to be. So he just thought about the people that were in harms way right now thanks to the Grimm.

"Each town has a reserve of Atlesian Knights. We'll use them and any local guards to cover the citizens as they escape. There are three towns in immediate danger, so we'll go to the one in the middle. That's where the augmented Grimm will be. The huntsmen and huntresses that are already out here can deal with the Grimm in the other two. The goal should be to delay, not to stop. We just need to give the citizens enough time to evacuate, and we can't sacrifice any lives. We're going to need everyone at the rallying village to fight back."

"Very well." Ozpin said. "I'll notify the hunters in the area. F-7 to F-6."

Jaune nodded, making sure to focus on that cold, logical part of his mind. He didn't want to face the human side of himself at that moment, so he played chess with Ozpin as he refused to acknowledge the thoughts running around his mind of Ruby and Blake and Weiss and Yang. They had to still be out there. They'd get a transmission in a few days from Ruby telling them about how they had accomplished their mission. Everything would be fine. He shook his head, ripping this thoughts from the subject.

This chess game was more disjointed. Jaune could see the way Ozpin's pieces connected, but starting two valuable pieces short, he found it hard to force that system to move the way he wanted. Ozpin didn't take it easy either. Jaune soon lost his remaining bishop. A few moves later, when he lost a knight, he knew there was no way to win. He collapsed all his pieces in around his king, and though he managed to make a few even trades, it only took more pieces off the board. The scales were not tipped whatsoever. Ozpin kept his own queen, and was always two pieces ahead of Jaune. He managed to prolong the game, but he lost without question. It didn't even take that long.

Ozpin stared at the board for a minute after they had finished. "Get some rest Jaune. Your Bullhead will arrive at your chosen village in an hour. We'll play again tomorrow afterwards. Best of luck." The scroll went dark and Jaune removed his headphones.

He looked around the inside of the Bullhead once again. Pyrrha was still gazing out the window, Ren was still reading, and Nora was still sleeping. They needed to know. They deserved to. _But now?_ Some voice whispered to him in the back of his mind. Tomorrow they'd have to fight those altered Grimm again, and it would be easier if they weren't distracted. Besides, he was sure Ruby and her team were fine. There were no corpses yet, and that meant that they were probably alive. Telling them would only worry them. It served no purpose.

No, they should know. He was their leader. He had to do everything he could to protect them, but he should never hide anything from them. He couldn't. So he stood up and walked over to Ren, who looked up as he approached. Jaune motioned for him to remove Nora's headphone's, and the green clad man did. Jaune tapped Nora lightly on the shoulder, but he should have known better. He had to shake her vigorously to wake her up. Then he tapped Pyrrha lightly on the shoulder. She removed her earbuds of her own accord, and his whole team looked at him. Jaune felt like someone had suddenly made gravity twice as strong and then piled a bunch of rocks onto his shoulders.

"I was just talking to Opzin," Jaune said. "There's something you guys should know."

/

 **Well... Neo turned out a bit darker than I expected. Oh well, suppose it fits the tone! Already working on the next chapter, though. It should be out this weekend! Any tips, suggestions or thoughts are more than welcome! Thanks for reading, and I hope you're enjoying!**

 **-Unjax**


	5. Chapter 5

Blake walked through the hallway, her heels clacking against the hard stone. She was good at being stealthy. She was very good at it in fact, almost to the point where it was second nature. Now though, she didn't bother being quiet. She was upset. Blake knew that it was a flaw of hers, letting her emotion upset her and mess with her rational mind, but, as always, she just didn't care.

It was Yang. The blonde girl had gotten to her. Just a few comments was all it took. Blake had no idea _why_ , but that's what had happened. Before Beacon, Blake had never really cared at all what others thought, and yet Yang's cold tone as she suggested parting ways had made Blake feel as if she had been punched by Ember Celica in the stomach. That one, single phrase from her partner had hit her harder than their fall. And that had hurt like Hell.

A little voice in the back of her head needled her, implying an answer as to why, but Blake refused to acknowledge it. It had to be wrong. She couldn't feel like that about Yang. She had felt that way about Sun, and she and Yang had just been friends that whole time. Very close partners, who shared most of their lives, even the most sensitive parts, but just friends. Especially after what had happened, it would just be _wrong_.

So why was it so damn hard for Blake to believe?

And why did Yang's words hurt so much?

She kicked a pebble. Blake was glad for her night vision, or she wouldn't have been able to see where that pebble ended up. It rolled to a stop against what Blake had thought was a rock, but proved itself otherwise when it moved in response. Eight legs scuttled sideways and the spider, which was much bigger than spiders should be, hissed at the pebble. Blake saw the trademark white mask and bone plating on it, and realized it was a Grimm. She pulled Gambol Shroud out, and immediately dropped into a low stance. She silenced her heels as she crept forward on her toes. The spider, who's front legs had been raised towards the rock, slowly relaxed. The legs descended, and touched down just as Gambol Shroud whispered through its body. She had struck well, severing the link between its head and torso.

Spider Grimm. That one was new.

Blake stepped over the plate sized corpse that was already beginning to dissolve and continued walking. Thanks to years of reading and navigating complex infrastructure with the White Fang, Blake's sense of direction and memory were both very good, but these tunnels were testing her. They branched off at odd intervals, sometimes looping back in on themselves and sometimes forking off to descend even further into the ground. Blake didn't find anywhere that seemed to lead in a distinctly _up_ direction, but she avoided the ones that sloped lower. She would check those eventually, if she had to, but for now she just wandered around the area she was.

The tunnels themselves were very dim. Any light that reached Blake now and was picked up by her sensitive eyes was just a scrap of what had entered into the main chamber. The formation also didn't strike Blake as natural. There were no stalagmites or stalactites, and the walls were lined with grooves at irregular intervals. The tunnels looked like they had been bored, yet nothing about them suggested that it had been done mechanically. It lacked the regular and precise dimensions of machinery. Some of the tunnels opened up and widened, and others were shorter, though all were large enough to fit the full span of a Bullhead in it. Blake bit her bottom lip for a moment, thinking.

All she knew was that she really didn't want to meet whatever had made the tunnels.

Clacking brought her mind out of the theoretical. A scratching noise, almost like someone was running a thousand knives over the stone in the distance. As she listened though, the sound grew louder. She looked around, saw a narrow crevice in the rock, and ducked into it. She squeezed herself inside, letting her ears pick up the sound as it drew closer. It filled the tunnel with a thousands little noises all adding up, echoing off the corridors, building in volume until all Blake could hear was an incessant scuttling.

As it reached a crescendo, she felt very slight vibrations in the ground. She looked to the side, out of the crevice, as a swarm of almost indistinguishable little bodies flew by, their eight little talons striking against the ground in a discordant beat. As she watched, the stream of spider Grimm thickened until it looked like they were crawling over one another. There were some that were so minuscule that Blake could hardly make them out, but the largest easily came up to her knees.

The vibrations began to ease off, and as the last trickle of the little creatures flew by, Blake let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She stepped gingerly into the hallway, making sure to take it easy. She hoped that the spiders wouldn't head to where Weiss and Ruby were, but there was nothing she could do there. She looked back to the hallway, the way the spiders had come, and started up that way.

She walked. She could cover enough ground walking, and it was the most efficient form of travel than running. She didn't want to have to dig into the food she had brought, but her stomach was growling. She pulled out her scroll, which still had about half its power left. According to it, dinnertime would be in about half an hour. The sun would probably be setting then too, and she wondered if she would see it again.

There was no mistake, they would try as hard as they could, but the world was a cold place. Blake knew that much. No matter how hard they fought, no matter how much they tried, there just might not be a way to do it. This pit, whatever it was and whoever made it, was eery to Blake. Grimm she hadn't known existed inhabited it, and there was still the question as to what could be so big that it could burrow massive tunnels through bedrock.

Then the ground curved up. Blake paused as she saw the slope, then hesitantly followed it. She walked along the path, her heels clacking on the uneven stones. Another tunnel curved off to her left, but it wasn't slanted so she ignored it. She also noticed that it was getting brighter as she walked. She could pick out more details on the rocks around her, and Blake realized that it was a soft red glow that struck the rocks.

Sunset.

She hurried, moving faster. She jogged until she saw it, and she almost sobbed with relief. It was one of the tunnels that had been bored through by who was presumably Cinder. Warm hues bounced off the rocks, and Blake bounded the last few steps to the edge. She closed her eyes as she felt the warmth on her skin. They were dull rays, and shadow already consumed most of the pit as night approached, but Blake didn't care. The measly scraps of sunshine were more than enough to her.

She noticed three things when she opened her eyes. There was another tunnel on the opposite side of the massive hole that perfectly lined up with her own. That was interesting. The second thing was that the closer to the surface, the fewer tunnels dotted the sides of the pit. That could be useful.

The third was the Grimm.

Blake was standing perhaps twenty feet above the bottom, but it wasn't nearly far enough. A Taijitu's head, looking sideways fortunately, was at eye level with her, and Blake dropped, pressed herself against the ground. She peaked over the edge looking into the mass of bodies below her.

She saw countless monsters of all different species and sizes. Taijitus, Deathstalkers, Creeps, Boarbatusks... All the ones she had learned about, save Nevermore, were there, and a few others. Spiders leaked from the tunnels and crawled across the walls. One of them was as tall as a Beowolf, and Blake shuddered. Anything that was landlocked was there. A lot of them looked odd for Grimm though. They had red crystals lining their backs, and Blake's stomach dropped in fear. She knew what those crystals were. She knew what they meant.

The spiders were the only ones that didn't have any crystals on their backs, but Blake didn't care. There were easily a hundred Grimm there, and dust knew how many more in the tunnels surrounding the area, most of which had the crystals that marked their augmentation. Blake wondered if they were really dust enhanced, like Torchwick had claimed. She paled at the possibility. It wasn't the worst part though, not by a long shot.

What worried her the most was that the Grimm seemed to be accumulating around the tunnel that her team had gone through, sniffing at the air and the ground like they knew that the team had been there.

The Grimm had their scent.

/

Yang kind of wished she had night vision. She knew that Blake did, though she was doing her best to avoid thinking about her at this point. She felt guilty about the way she had dismissed her partner earlier. Yang really wanted to go out with her partner, walk together rather than alone in the dark caves where shadows swam like ghosts, that flickered and danced at the edges of Yang's vision, playing with the very light she was emitting.

Yang was scared though. Partly because of where they were, but also partly due to that fire burning deep inside of her, threatening to well up and send Yang into one of her rages. Yang's temper was her biggest strength, literally fuelling her body, but now it scared her. She didn't want to go with Blake because if they ran into Grimm and Yang lost it, she didn't know what her semblance would do. And the last person that she could let that happen with was Blake.

Yang had tried denying how she felt for a long time. It complicated things. Life was a lot simpler when the two were just friends. Being around Blake was easy, peaceful, and enjoyable. Yang couldn't afford to sacrifice the closest friendship she had because her heart would start thumping whenever she saw the black haired girl in the bow.

Now Yang couldn't even be around Blake. It was almost humorous, but Yang worried that seeing Blake in danger would just accentuate her already unstable semblance. If a Grimm so much as touched Blake, Yang was pretty sure she'd lose it. She did hate herself though, just a little, for the look that Blake had given her when Yang had stated they needed to go separate ways.

A shadow scuttled in the darkness, and Yang dropped into a stance. There was a still moment, the shadows licking across the rocks as Yang glowed, but nothing moved, and there wasn't a single sound. The vast silence seemed to pull at Yang's senses, heightening them. She could feel her pulse, even at a normal rate, crash through her system like a tidal wave. Each slight eddy of air was like a hurricane against her skin, and when her hair tickled her neck or her arms, Yang would twist around expecting a fight. It was unsettling, the absolute silence. Things shouldn't be as quiet as they were. Life was full of bustling and bumping, sounds in the night and the day, and always, there was _something_.

Now there was nothing. This place was utterly devoid of any and all life.

Yang figured it must have just been the flickering light around her, and dismissed the shadow she had seen. She was still tense as she stood back to full height though. This entire place made her uneasy. She could feel the tension in her shoulders, her muscles locked despite the lack of danger. Yang knew she was being stiff right now, and that was the absolute worst thing. If there was any real threat, Yang had to be loose and reactionary, instinctual, but the way she was right now, she was liable to snap and overreact to anything that came near her. She was pretty sure if a cute little bunny were to hop along in front of her right now, she would probably blast it with Ember Celica. She felt drawn tight, each muscle pulling even though she should be relaxed, all about to snap.

She kept walking, slowly and warily. Her progress was slow as a result, and Yang cursed herself for it. They needed to get out of this... This _void_ as soon as possible. If she didn't find a path, that could be a problem.

Her stress was also affecting her memory, making her lose focus. Yang had been trying to keep track of which direction she was going, _left, right, straight, left, left..._ And so on, but she was struggling to remember which turns she had taken. She wasn't so sure she could retrace her steps anymore. That would probably be bad. _Worry about that later though._ Yang told herself.

Something else moved through a patch of light and before Yang knew what was happening, there was a smoking crater in the rock where the movement had been. A shockwave of sound echoed through the tunnel, bouncing off each wall, building on top of itself before slowly dispersing through the air. She looked down at the gauntlet that had fired off, forcing it back down. She hadn't meant to do that. It was probably stupid. Making any noise at all was probably stupid. She had just done something very stupid. She was _way_ too high strung.

Yang was used to being the loose one. She could normally deal with anything life through at her in stride. The biggest messes weren't too severe for her, meeting friends was no issue, even dealing with the Grimm and White Fang attacks that she had seen over her three-and-a-bit years at Beacon had been pretty easy. All she had to do was react to life in the best way she could, and things normally worked out. Go with the flow.

But here there was nothing to react to. This wasn't reminiscent of life at all. There was nothing that happened, and that unnerved Yang. Everything she did created a new set of circumstances. She was pretty much the only thing that existed down here. Her entire world, which had once been filled with vibrant life, people and events, was now empty. It was an abyss.

Then there was a scuffle behind her and Yang whipped around. She saw something leaping at her, a tangle of limbs outstretched as it jumped, and Yang's gauntlet flew into the centre of its body. It was maybe the size of a pillow, and as her fist connected, it blew into little pieces, smoking before they even hit the ground. The echo of Ember Celica bounced through the empty chamber, racketing off the tunnel walls. There it was again; she had done something stupid.

Yang kept moving, turning into the closest tunnel she could. She wanted to run and get away from where she had just been, but the hard heels of her boots would probably create more of an echo for whatever was down there for her to follow. She walked at a brisk pace as quietly as she could, but before long, she heard skittering, and she didn't like the sound of it at all.

She cut through as many different tunnels as she could, not even bothering to keep track of the turns. Whatever was coming, the building skittering sounds suggested a swarm of some sorts. One Ursa or even maybe a normal Deathstalker might be okay with the new energy she had, but whatever was coming was much more abundant.

Yang swallowed hard as the noise grew louder. She veered into a tunnel on her left, breaking into a jog. She realized too late she had doubled back on herself, tried to find another way to go, looked up the tunnel, and saw them.

She had been right; it was a swarm. Spiders, some as small as her fist and others standing as tall as her legs, were barreling down the tunnel towards her. Yang dropped into a stance, her stomach churning. Adrenaline pumped through her, and Yang felt her inner flame swell, bursting at the seams to escape. She tried to shut it out.

The swarm didn't even slow down as they closed in on her. There were a few smaller ones, quicker probably, at the front, and they attacked first. Ember Celica, already primed to strike, lashed out at the leaping Grimm, smashing them into pieces as they pounced. Yang moved quickly, letting her instincts take over, and punched each consecutive spider that bounded. The few small ones in front quickly gave way to a few larger ones, and Yang struggled to keep up, firing her gauntlets into the beasts as quickly as she could.

And then they were on her.

Yang felt her aura flashing as talons and maws snapped at her legs. She felt one of them on her back, and as she reached back to grab it, a spider that came up to her waist jumped on her chest. Four of its legs pinned her down as its pincers snapped at her face. Yang's aura held off the first few bites, and she managed to get her arms up to grab the beast's mouth appendages. She wrestled with it even as she felt more legs scuttling over her soft skin, digging in as they washed over her.

The spider Grimm on top of her pummelled her with its remaining legs as Yang struggled to steer its gnashing jaws away from her face. Something bit into her leg, and she felt molten fire spread through the limb. She tried to thrash her leg and dislodge whatever it was, but the spider on top of her still had her pinned.

Yang yelled as more pain shot up her shoulder. She looked down, away from the spider's jaws for a moment, but she couldn't even see herself. A mass of scuttling Grimm covered her, the living sea writhing as each one tried to find some exposed skin to sink its jaws into. Behind the Grimm that was on top of her, even more of the spiders washed back and forth. It would have been impossible for Yang to count how many because she couldn't see an end.

More pressure on her arms, and Yang turned her focus back to the one that had her pinned. It was leaning in more now, putting more pressure on her arms, but less on her legs. Yang strained to keep its jaws apart, but they pressed in strongly. She decided to change tactics, and instead applied pressure upwards on the jaws. With it leaning down so much, they snapped back, and Yang could feel the bones inside breaking. It squealed, and with her hands free, Yang snapped her gauntlet into its face. Its balance veered to the side, freeing up Yang's left leg. She raised it to the thing's underside and kicked hard, throwing it off along with a stream of its smaller kin.

She rolled over her shoulder, trying to squish as many beneath her as she could, which worked until she hit one that was far too big to squish. She fired her gauntlet into its face and it reeled away, covering up with its front legs. Yang turned back to the swarm and saw another spider leaping at her. A quick jab should have ripped it apart, but Yang's limbs were being weighed down by the mass of spiders on her, so it landed on her chest. It nipped at her, and Yang could feel something burning through her veins. It wasn't the good kind of burn though, not the kind she was used to, but something that withered as it moved rather than re-energized. She knocked it off, and smashed her heel into its head.

She was slowing down.

Yang did her best to swing her arms and kick her legs, but each movement was burdened by bodies on top of her own. Another large spider butted into her, and Yang felt her semblance flare. Bright light lit the room for a moment, but she growled and forced it back down. She didn't know what would happen if she allowed herself to unleash the pent up energy inside of her. Something cut across her thigh, and fangs sank into her shoulder. Yang grabbed the spider on her shoulder first, flinging it into another that was jumping at her. She then kicked the larger spider, sending some of the bodies flying off her leg.

The big spider lunged forward as Yang tried to retract her kick and got its pincers around her foot. It tugged on her, and Yang had to hop to stay on balance. There was a flicker of movement in the edge of her eye and Yang turned sideways just in time to see a pincer-less spider dive at her face. She only just managed to cover up in time as it smashed into her, and without her leg, Yang was driven to the floor. She kicked her free leg into the other spider's face, but its grip didn't waver. She fired Ember Celica, but it clicked instead of shot. Yang cursed and reached for the dust rounds on her belt, but strong talons pinned her arms by her sides.

Then the swarm was all over her again. Yang writhed on the ground as one of them crawled across her face, chittering at her before sinking its fangs into her neck. Yang grunted in pain and tried to heave off the one pinning her, but it had learned from last time. All of Yang's limbs were being held down. The one that had had its jaws clamped on her leg released, but only to be replaced by dozens of its smaller brethren. Yang struggled to shift her legs and throw them off, but she couldn't move. Dozens of sets of poisoned fangs sank into her and the venom entered her body like ice, no longer burning but freezing. Frostbite seized her veins and crept towards her heart and her stomach. It kept going, and Yang felt herself growing weak. Her struggling began to fade, now nothing but brief whimpers and pathetic twitches. The ice sank into her, froze her limbs and dimmed her vision. It went deeper, sinking into her bones, and Yang knew she was dying.

She didn't have the strength to fight back. She wondered what she wanted her last thought to be about, but she already knew. She had always known. A mental picture formed vividly in her mind even as Yang became detached from the world. A soft smile on warm lips and piercing amber eyes. A slim, powerful figure with soft curves and smooth skin. High cheekbones and a flawless face, and behind the perfect looks, a kindness and compassion that burned brighter than Yang's semblance ever could.

Yang thought about when they had first met. She laughed weakly, hardly more than a huff of air, as she remembered how dismissive she had been. Blake had quickly grown in Yang's life until she knew that she would do anything for her partner. She had never told Blake, but Yang had known it for a long time. It had burned and smouldered under the surface of Yang's happy antics, but it was always there at the forefront of Yang's mind. Her sidelong glances, the twisting in her gut every time their eyes met, and the overwhelming bewilderment she felt at just being around Blake, that incorruptible happiness, were all symptoms of Yang's own peculiar brand of sickness. Lovesick, that was the word _her_ books used.

She was in love with Blake, and she had never even told her.

Something inside her stirred.

Yang's wick pulsed, and she gasped. A flood of warmth pushed back the tide of ice for a moment with the shock of heat. The ice crashed back, but as Yang's heart beat again, it was pushed further back. Yang felt her skin again briefly, pricks of pain shooting through her from being bitten by the spiders. The ice crashed back once more, but then Yang gave in. She didn't try to damped her flame, and it flared.

Heat smashed through the ice, blasting it from her body even as the spiders on top of her were incinerated. Yang's eyes flew open again, and the world was tinted red. She heard the spider that had pinned her squeal in pain as it was blinded by the white hot light that Yang was emitting.

Thought ceased and Yang threw her assaulter to the side. It smashed into the wall and smoke began to poor off its body. Pain in her neck, and her core pulsed again. More squealing, the pain stopped, and Yang began to lose sight as smoke began to fill the corridor. Larger spiders jumped, all were knocked aside easily. Fire licked from her hair, and Yang leapt into the air. She brought her fist into the ground, and the entire tunnel shook as a shockwave radiated outwards, incinerating spiders all around her. White hot pain in her calf and Yang yelled, a sphere of superheated air popping around her, and whatever had bitten her disintegrated.

Her core was burning wildly now, and pure energy flooded her body. Blood still flowed from cuts, but all the venom was burned out. The ice was gone, and heat began to overtake Yang's world, burning, scorching and incinerating. The red tinge burned deeper, darker, becoming watery in the haze of heat. The rocks glowed almost pure white around her, and she saw some of it drip to the ground. Spiders skittered towards her, but didn't even make it close, getting burned up in the half molten ground. The world around Yang became death itself, entirely inhospitable to anything but herself.

"Yang?" A voice called, and the superheated huntress froze in her tracks.

The voice was familiar, but in her semblance induced haze, Yang couldn't recognize it. It was so familiar, and she tried to pull at the memories. It was a voice that brought comfort and pain in Yang. One that spoke of good times, but overshadowed by a hidden truth. One of love, but unreciprocated. One of pain. More than all that though, it was the sound of companionship; a deep, unbreakable bond.

 _Oh Dust,_ Yang thought in horror as it finally clicked. _It's Blake._

/

 **I hate spiders. Any thoughts, comments or suggestions are appreciated! Hope you enjoyed the read so far!**

 **-Unjax**


	6. Chapter 6

There was a slight tremor in the ground, and Blake thought she heard the sound of a dust round being fired off. Her ear flicked involuntarily, and she cinched back from the edge of the pit. Once she had gone far enough down that if she stood up, she wouldn't be spotted, she got up, turned and started jogging. A few moments passed, and Blake had no idea from which direction the sound had come, so she stood still, listening.

There was another one. It echoed through the tunnels, hitting her ears from different directions, but the one on her right reached her just a bit sooner. She started down the hallway, her pulse picking up slightly. It wasn't from the jogging.

There was another, definitely dust rounds, and Blake followed the sound. It had to be Yang; she doubted there was anyone else down there. Yang was in trouble, and the thought sent Blake's heart racing. If she had been attacked by the Grimm with the red crystals... _Please, no_. Blake pleaded mentally.

The time between the shots grew faster and faster, and then they ceased altogether. Butterflies flitted around her stomach, and Blake stopped. She was stunned. They couldn't stop, Yang couldn't stop. If the dust rounds weren't firing, it meant that her partner wasn't able to fire anymore.

Then she broke into a sprint.

All thoughts of stealth abandoned her as she raced through the corridors towards where the sound had come from. An endless amount of time passed, and Blake wasn't sure if she was still going the right way. She just kept moving, kept pumping her arms, because she had to get to Yang.

Then the entire tunnel shook. Dust fell from the ceiling and settled on her hair as Blake stumbled and the ground shifted beneath her. She put her hand against the wall, steadying herself. It passed in a moment, and Blake ran towards the source of the shaking. As she approached, she felt the air getting hotter. Suddenly, there was a rush of searing heat that flew by her and cracked her lips. Blake kept moving, even as she tasted the salty metallic tang of blood drip into her mouth.

It got hotter, and Blake felt herself sweating. The temperature of the cave had increased so much that Blake was sure the sun must have been burning around the next corner. White light blared off the rocks around her, and Blake's sensitive eyes were almost overloaded by the brightness.

"Yang?" She called, her stomach swirling as thoughts of the worst possible scenarios rolled through her mind. She rounded the corner and-

 _/_

 _Fear gripped Yang's insides at her partner's voice, and her core pulsed powerfully in response. She tried to shove it down, but part of her wanted it to keep burning. The energy that she had absorbed in her fall wasn't even close to gone, and it wanted to be released. Yang's semblance wasn't meant to store energy for any length of time, and now that she had let some of it leak out, it was like a dam that had held it back was breaking. Energy slammed through her body, and Yang shuddered, trying to calm it down, shut it off. She wanted the ice back. She wanted the venom to freeze her heart and make it stop. She might die, but Blake would be fine._

 _She took a shaky, involuntary step towards the voice, feeling the ground underneath her sink a little with her footstep, like mud or wet sand. She tried to to feel the edges of her semblance like she had immediately after crashing, but the energy was loose now, doing everything it could to avoid restraint. The red-tinged world around her was still out of focus, the ripples in the air from the heat warping the tunnel around her. She couldn't see clearly, but way down at the end of the hall, silhouetted by the blinding light all around her, stood a figure in black. Her heart raced; she knew who it was. It was the last person she wanted there right now._

 _/_

Fear was plastered over Yang's face. The rock around her partner was melting, and Blake stared in absolute shock. The corridor had a smokey haze filling it from the corpses of a bunch of dead Grimm burning on the ground next to Yang, but even the black ash shone white from the brilliant light being emitted from her partner and the melting rocks around Yang. The heat dried Blake's skin, and the sweat she had worked up before began to steam off her arms, curling off of her like the wispy fingers of a ghost.

Blake met her partner's deep, crimson eyes, and all she saw was fear. Blake had no idea what was happening right now, but she had to resist the temptation to run in and grab Yang. The earth beneath the golden girl was bending with her weight, and Blake could tell, even from the distance she was standing, that she couldn't survive that much heat.

Hell, she didn't know how in dust's name _Yang_ was surviving it.

Yang's face screwed up, almost as if she were in pain, and she keeled over as if someone had kicked her in the stomach. Blake's heart twisted as she saw it.

"Yang!" She cried out, her heart wrenching as her blonde haired partner stumbled back as if she had been kicked.

/

 _The energy rushed back into Yang like a hit from a sledgehammer. She stumbled back, almost vomited from the pain, but grinned as she saw the white hot rock dim in brightness just a little bit. Blake came into a shaky focus in front of her, worry plain on her face._

 _"Yang!" Her partner called out again as she stumbled into the wall. For the first time, Yang felt some of the heat on her back, but she was okay with that. She reached out to the edges of her semblance again and tugged, feeling the energy writhe as it tried to break free of her grasp. She pulled it in again, but something inside her stomach wrenched as she tried. She lost focus, and the energy ran away. She cursed, slammed her fist into the ground, and drops of the semi-liquid ground splattered all over. Some of it landed on her skin, and Yang gasped in pain as the heat shot over her. She hadn't felt it in her semblance induced rage, but now, with some of her energy reeled in, she didn't have as much protection from her aura._

 _She reached out to the edges of her semblance once more, tensing herself for the pain she knew would come and-_

 _/_

Blake covered her mouth as she saw Yang fall to the side in agony. She wanted to be sick. She couldn't stand to watch it. She didn't want to see Yang hurting, not ever. Tears that Blake hadn't felt spring to her eyes fell down her face and a harsh sob wracked her body. She could see Yang's face twisting in withering pain, and it tore something deep within her chest.

The world was dimming though. Whatever Yang was doing was working. The harsh white of the stones gave way to a deep cherry red, and the ground under Yang's feet stopped glowing. Yang convulsed, and then the rock seemed to harden, solid once more. A soft whimper escaped Yang's lips, and her eyes opened, lilac again. She locked her gaze with Blake's, and some steel replaced the wounded look she had. Yang's face set, she inhaled, shut her eyes, tensed-

And the light left the world. It was like someone had turned a giant off switch on the inferno. Blake could still feel heat radiating out from the rocks, but it was mild compared to that which Yang had been letting off. Her partner jerked backwards, falling onto the ground. It reminded Blake a little of someone getting shot, a sight she had known too much before Beacon.

A golden lock of hair began to smoulder on the still scorching rocks, making Blake's heart snap back into full rhythm as she realized that Yang's aura wasn't protecting her. The rocks, especially those nearest Yang, were still too hot for anyone to touch. Blake started forward towards Yang, but before she had taken three steps she jolted back in pain. The heat had seared into her foot through the hard material of her boot.

Blake looked around frantically, but there was nowhere for her to go. There was no way to get to Yang without severely hurting herself, or maybe even dying. Blake had no idea how hot those rocks were.

Without a second to think, Blake took a step back and pulled Gambol Shroud over her shoulder. It collapsed into its whip form, and Blake shot it off immediately. The end knocked into Yang's shoulder, hooking over it, and Blake tore at the rope, trying to get Yang as far away from harm as possible. Yang shifted slightly, dragged across the field slightly, but then the handle lost its grip, slid over her stomach, then came skittering back to Blake's feet. She cursed, panic gripping her mind, before a solution that she didn't like one bit presented itself. She didn't have the luxury of thinking though, she didn't have the time to think.

"Sorry Yang," She muttered as she fired off Gambol Shroud again, straight at her partner's thigh. It was supposed to go for the calf, but Blake's shaking hand had thrown her aim. Yang groaned a little and gave a convulsive twitch. Blake's heart wrenched in her chest, but she didn't give herself any time to think about what she was doing.

She pulled on the ribbon again, bile rising to her throat as she felt flesh and muscle tear slightly at her insistent tugging. Yang started to slide across the ground though, so Blake steeled herself, and wrenched on the strong material.

Yang's leg didn't provide much resistance for long, and Blake felt Gambol Shroud shred through the muscle of the thigh. It had done its job for long enough though. Yang slid past Blake, letting out a soft whimper of pain.

Blake bent over, dry-heaving. She wanted to be sick for what she had done, to Yang of all people. She had never wanted to hurt her partner like that, it was the _last_ thing she wanted, but she had done it. She didn't have a choice.

Blake spat the bile out of her mouth _,_ then made her way to Yang's side. She checked Yang's forehead, but it was cool. No fever.

"Yang? Can you open your eyes?" The blonde obeyed, letting her beautiful lilac irises meet with Blake's amber ones. Butterflies swirled inside her at the intense look her partner was giving her. She didn't know if it was a mix of adrenaline and nerves about the state of her partner or something else, but Blake chastised herself. Nervousness was the least productive thing to feel at that moment. She focused on the pupils instead. The dark spots weren't dilated, which was good.

"How many fingers?" Blake held up three. Yang sucked in a breath through clenched teeth, making a sort of hissing.

'Three," She gasped, and Blake nodded. She caressed her partner's face, then turned her head from side to side. No blood - there was a streak of black through Yang's hair - but Blake figured she shouldn't mention that part or Yang might go berserk again.

Blake snapped her fingers next to Yang's right ear, and Yang's eyes darted to that side. Blake did the same for the left. Same response.

No damage to cognitive function.

"Squeeze my finger." Blake ordered, putting her digit into Yang's loose hand.

"Miss Belladonna, are you asking me to hold your hand? I'd expect to go on a date first."

Blake gave her a glare, but smiled after a second. At least no more cognitive disfunction than usual, anyhow. Rather than squeeze her finger though, Yang flicked Blake's hand down so that her palm met the blonde's. Yang squeezed her hand gently, stroking the back of it.

Blake had to pause for a moment and regain her bearings.

 _What the Hell?_ She frowned. Why was there heat rushing to her face?

"Stop that," She murmured, trying to hide the flush of color on her cheeks. _Just the adrenaline_. She thought. "Need to make sure you're alright."

"Sorry," The blonde spoke softly, absently.

Blake's eyes began to drift down to Yang's body, and she sucked in a breath.

"Oh _dust,_ " She muttered.

Blood covered her partner, seeping from hundreds of tiny holes all over Yang's body. She must have missed it before due to the bright light, but there was _so much._ Blake gently stroked her finger down Yang's sternum, feeling the infinitesimal piercings all over her skin under the wet slick of the blood. Yang's skin grew goosebumps all of the sudden, and Blake's partner giggled. It should have been a laugh, but Yang couldn't manage that much apparently.

"You _definitely_ have to buy me dinner before you go any lower," Blake realized that her hand was beginning to drift a little too close to Yang's chest. "I have standards, you know." Blake wanted to laugh and sob at the same time, and a sort of strangled squeak escaped her mouth.

"What _happened_ Yang?" Blake whispered intensely, gently pushing her arms under her partner's back. She pulled Yang up, ignored the groan of complaint, and set her against the wall. It was still faintly warm, but it wouldn't do any harm.

"Oh, you know. Got a bit edgy. Shot at something. Turned out to be a spider. Turns out there were a lot more spiders. Turns out they bite, and eventually there was some fire or something." Yang mumbled the words as Blake's gaze went further down her body. She pushed on the sides of Yang's exposed midriff, testing for any internal bruising or bleeding. Yang just laughed weakly again.

"No kidney shots." She gripped.

"No complaining," Blake grumbled back as her hand drifted to the front of Yang's smooth stomach. Half of her mind began to wander with her contact to the exposed skin, but Blake knew she didn't feel that way about Yang. It was just the adrenaline, heightening her senses and throwing her emotional responses out of whack. It flushed her body, and apparently clouded her mind. She cursed at herself mentally, and the professional part of her mind managed to stay in control. She pressed on Yang's abs, feeling the expected resistance from such a well toned body.

Blake had to pause for a moment, taking a deep breath. Next were the legs, and Blake knew the dangers of leg wounds. She would have shot for the shoulder, but it was too close to the heart and lungs. The arm might not have provided enough purchase, and the stomach was right out. Calf was maybe the best option, but Blake had missed, and hitting the thigh was bad.

If she had hit the femoral artery, it was lights out. Part of her was freaking out, breathing too fast, making her heart race, wanting to pass out or puke or cry, but Blake put on a brave face, and looked down.

There was blood everywhere. There was a deep gash in Yang's thigh, but the edges weren't jagged. The wound was bleeding a lot though. Blake pressed on the edge of it, and there was no spurting. More blood pooled out of the wound, but nothing highly pressurized.

Blake's mind went into autopilot as she realized Yang wasn't going to die, not yet. The ribbon came off her arms and began wrapping around Yang's thigh. The blade had entered just above the hem of her shorts, and Blake could hear Yang open her mouth to make another rude comment at Blake's hand being so high up.

"Shut it," Blake growled and she wrapped the material around her partner tightly, working furiously to stem the tide of blood.

"Comedic relief is good for stressful situations." Blake sighed, she was right.

"What if I don't want it to be a joke?" She answered coyly with a cheeky grin, and Yang laughed. Blake thought it was a joke anyhow. _Damn adrenaline._

"In my wildest dreams, Belladonna." Well _that_ was definitely a joke, though Blake's adrenaline fuelled heart raced faster for a moment. Blake tied off the ribbon. She looked at her handiwork, and noticed that the ribbon was already turning slick and shiny from the blood. There wasn't as much pooling out anymore though, so Blake counted it a victory.

"Can you walk?"

"Don't think I'll have a choice." Yang said as she slid her good leg under her. Blake grabbed her wrists as Yang pushed off the ground and helped her to her feet. Yang almost collapsed right away, but Blake caught her.

Blake maneuvered herself onto Yang's bad side and slid her arms under her partner's shoulder. Her other hand came to rest on Yang's side, helping to support her weight. After recovering from what Blake guessed must have been the world's largest head rush, Yang looked down at her bad leg. She moved it forward, put a bit of pressure on it.

"Ow!" She cried out. "Ow, ow, ow, ow!" She gasped, hopping up and down on her good leg slightly. Guilt cut through Blake's stomach like a icy knife.

"Come on, we need to get going. Any Grimm that has the dullest of senses is going to be on its way here." Blake urged, though her heart wrenched.

"Yeah, yep, yes." Yang murmured quickly, then she took a deep breath. "Alright, Blake, you're going to have to help me here. I can't see and I can't walk."

"Of course," Blake's voice held more conviction than she expected, and suddenly she felt a lot more weight on her shoulder. Blake helped her partner hobble along the stone tunnel, taking the weight as Yang nearly collapsed on each second step, as they passed into the shadows just as the first clacks and stamps of Grimm began to sound against the tunnel walls from the distance.

/

 **Blake has issues with adrenaline... Or maybe it's not adrenaline. Thanks for reading and hope you're enjoying! Any comments, criticism or advice is seriously helpful, so feel free to drop a review if you have anything to say!**

 **-Unjax**


	7. Chapter 7

Everything had been going fine, not good, but fine, until the Atlesian Knights shut down. The line against the augmented Grimm had been holding, and Jaune had been confident that they could buy the citizens the time they needed to get away. Then, all of the sudden, the thousands of dust rounds being unloaded by the Knights stopped, and the Grimm surged forward. A jet roared by overhead, releasing some sort of powder, and the Grimm closed in. Jaune had been expecting them to go after him and his team, but they had sprinted by him, and Jaune's stomach had sank.

They were going after the villagers.

They were Grimm, and Jaune knew that they were pulled to negative emotions. His team had been trained for their jobs; they were used to danger, but these people had just left their entire lives behind. Resentment, fear, anger, anxiety... The townspeople were probably as big an attraction as the Grimm had seen since the days of the Great War. The lucky ones had escaped in their cars, but makeshift carts had been made to accommodate the movement of the rest's belongings. They would be slow, easy targets.

Jaune turned to race after the last Beowolf, the slowest of the Grimm, still easily moving as fast as a horse could sprint. Whatever those red crystals on the backs of the Grimm were, they made it impossible for Jaune to keep up with them.

"Bullhead, now." Jaune ordered to his team. Around him, the few remaining town guards were looking at him, befuddled. "You guys, take the cars and make a wide radius around the Grimm. Get to the caravan, and protect it." The guards scrambled into action, but Jaune's stomach churned in guilt. They had volunteered for their positions, but they lacked the polished and competent grace of hunters, and most of them would probably die.

Seeing that his orders would be followed, Jaune turned and started to sprint through the city to where their bullhead would be. The dust plane had been hidden before the Grimm had arrived so as not to be destroyed, but Jaune now wished that they had kept it closer on hand. The Grimm ignoring them was unexpected though, there was no way to have predicted it. He thought the heat of battle would provide enough incentive for the creatures to attack, but they had just kept moving, almost like they were chasing something.

The jet, perhaps.

Jaune stopped thinking about it as he dodged between useless androids, now completely defunct. "Stupid Atlas," He murmured to no one in particular. Beside him, his team weaved through the metallic pillars and dashed towards the bullhead. He rounded one of the corners and skidded to a stop.

Heat flared up in front of him, and a flash fire sprang into existence. Buildings on either side of the road caught flame, and an encroaching fire approached from the end of the road. The bullhead was in an alley about halfway down the corridor of hungry flames, licking up the sides of the wooden buildings all around. The end of the road was covered in fire, somehow spreading closer over the concrete. There was only one explanation: dust.

Flames were swept to either side as if by some invisible hand, and three silhouettes walked was a woman that stood tall and proud, her shoulder back and her long legs strutting confidently towards them. There was a glassy clinking from her red shoes, and long ashen hair was swept over one of her eyes. She wore a red dress with orange and yellow emblazoning on it.

Cinder Fall.

And on either side of her stood Mercury and Emerald.

As they passed through the threshold of flames, Cinder lowered the hand she had had raised. The flames leapt back to close the gap. Jaune began to feel the heat on his face as the town around him burned, and as the sweat built, so did the tension.

The concrete beneath was alright for now, though it was beginning to feel warm through his sneakers. The flames only seemed to approach behind Cinder, and Jaune gaged that they had about thirty seconds before she would be at the entrance to the alleyway.

He began to advance, tapping Pyrrha's grieve lightly. Reluctantly, she moved behind him, and Ren and Nora flanked his sides. He made sure to walk briskly so that he would run into Cinder at the entrance of the alley, allowing them to escape if the need arose.

A crack to the side, and Jaune spared a glance to see a support beam that had been holding up a balcony fall over and land on the road, smouldering. The cool chill of the newly wintered air was pushed away as the fire ate the town.

He watched warily as Cinder got closer. Mercury was walking with a confident swagger, his hands tucked into his pockets as though casually burning towns was his gig. Emerald at least had her pistols out on either side, but she too looked relaxed. Their ease didn't make Jaune feel confident, and the complete authoritative stride of Cinder made him feel like they knew something he didn't.

She drew to a stop about five feet away from him, and Jaune slowed, then stopped as well, and there was a moment where they just looked at each other. Jaune had unconsciously sank into a combat stance, low to the ground and ready to react. Beside him, his team was ready. All he had to do was give the order, and they would leap into action.

"You're not going to attack us." Cinder's voice, calm, controlled, and with an indisputable authority, rang against Jaune's ears. The proclamation was so self-assured that the order died on Jaune's lips.

"What?" The question seemed like an idiotic thing to ask, but Jaune's mind had blanked.

"You can't risk it. There's a pack of Beowolves, probably a dozen or so left, that are going to be running rampant on an undefended caravan within the next two minutes. They're going to need help." Her sweet voice was enticing, and the swaying of the words on her lips made him consider them carefully.

"But if we arrest you now, this all ends, doesn't it?" Jaune said. Cinder was the one that had augmented the Grimm, and if she was stopped, all that had to happen was a mopping up operation. Once the released Grimm were killed, the world would return to normal. Then they could find team RWBY.

"It would, but you couldn't arrest us." Mercury said cockily.

"We outnumber you." Jaune pointed out.

"Not really," Emerald cut in. "One of you doesn't count... Although she really shouldn't be walking yet, should she?" She must have been talking about Pyrrha.

"I guess she's recovering faster than we had hoped. For now though, miss Nikos won't be a problem." Cinder explained it, and one word caught in Jaune's mind.

 _Recovering_. Maybe the poison would wear off eventually...

"If you stay, how many villagers die? How much blood is on your hands?" Her voice drawled the last sentence, her tone dropping just enough to be dangerous. "Best case scenario, you arrest us and all the villagers die. Time for you to go, Jaune." Cinder strutted forward, away from her group, right up to Jaune's face. "Huntsmen save people, and the people need saving. Go, be the angel. Be the hero. Save them all." She drew out the ends of each sentence, making them sound like a sarcastic insult with that lilting voice.

Jaune's mind went into calculations. He was trying to determine how likely it was that they could best Cinder, Emerald and Mercury. The brief combats he had seen from Emerald and Mercury showed that they were very competent fighters. Alongside Ruby, Mercury was the only one who had been able to give Pyrrha a run for her money. In addition, Pyrrha wasn't able to use her semblance or aura. He knew Ren and Nora were good, but Nora was still recovering from her injury and Ren was not the most resilient. Jaune knew that he himself wasn't the most talented fighter. He could hold his own, but against a group like this...

Even if they could win, it would take time. It would be a trying combat at best, and if they did manage to arrest the three, then they would have to go try and find the villagers, if there were any left, and try to save them when they would be low on aura and fatigued.

Jaune hated himself for it, but he knew what had to be done. They had to get to the villagers, and fighting Cinder would just result in the loss of innocent lives.

"Jaune," Ren said, his voice low and almost warning.

"We need to go," He deadpanned.

"Jau-"

"Go. Now." He cut Pyrrha off. His teammates stood stock still for a moment, stunned, but then started to stalk towards the alleyway that lead to the bullhead. They kept their weapons up. Jaune knew they wouldn't be attacked though. He locked eyes with the fiery eyed woman in front of him, and she looked at him levelly. He suddenly felt very small despite the fact he had an inch on her. "We're going to stop you." He growled.

"I was like that once. I thought fighting for them was the right thing to do, but someday you'll learn that sacrifices must be made. You won't stop us." She smiled at him softly, her eyes catching the light of the flames in their reflection, dancing around playfully. "Now run along. Go, be a _good little huntsman_ , and realize how many people you've just condemned to die. Each second you waste is another life in your hands fading away." He had to try. She _had_ to be stopped, and if he could just get her by surprise..

Jaune whipped Crocea Mors forward, but dust exploded around him and sent him flying. There was a laugh, soft in tones but menacing in intent. Jaune realized he had slid to a stop beside his team, and Pyrrha and Ren were unloading dust rounds towards the group of three. Cinder just held her arm forward, and ripples of aura spread out from around her where the dust bullets flew.

Her other hand came up, and a wall of flame roared up in front of Jaune and his team. The ground underneath him grew hot as Jaune stood and looked down.

There were sigils everywhere.

 _Oh no,_ he groaned mentally.

"Run!" He shouted, and Pyrrha looked down just in time to see the intricate patterns of dust flaring to life in response to their auras. Cinder had to have known about the bullhead. Somehow, she had known.

Pyrrha sprung backwards and Ren tackled Nora to the side as a jet of flame shot upwards. The dust under Jaune burst into life and ice frosted the bottoms of his jeans, making them stiff and causing his calf to cramp. He started to run, his frozen muscles pulling slightly at the movements. More sigils activated as they raced by, and fire, lightning and ice all shot by Jaune and his team. Jaune only managed to miss most of them thanks to the warnings he got from his aura. Ren remained untouched, purple flashes of aura shooting up anytime he couldn't dodge one of the traps. Nora just ran, and the purple light protected her, too. Pyrrha managed to weave between the various explosions, icicles and streams of fire, dancing, leaping, twisting and flowing through all the obstacles she faced, her long scarlet ponytail whipping around and flowing behind her intricate movements. Jaune tensed his aura as he felt something to the side, and an entire wall disintegrated into ice crystals that jetted sideways to skewer his team. One of them caught Pyrrha's arm, and he saw blood splatter the ground as she continued moving.

The alleyway opened up into a clearing where the bullhead was parked, and Jaune checked over his shoulder to see smoke pouring into the sky. The flames had caught all over the town now, and he saw hundred foot tall flames streaking the sky near the far edges of it. The houses behind him flared into unnatural flame, and it spread faster than it should have, consuming all the buildings surrounding the clearing.

Jaune looked into the bullhead to see the pilot slumped at the controls. There was some sort of fluid, slick and glimmering in the dancing light of the flames, covering the side of his face and soaking his clothes. Jaune didn't have to smell the metallic tang to know what it was.

"Ren?" He asked. He was probably the best at vehicle control, though none of them had taken many classes in flight. Jaune had idiotically thought that they would always have a pilot to count on.

"On it," He replied. Jaune, Nora and Pyrrha piled into the main chamber of the bullhead as Ren made his way to the front cabin. He threw the corpse back, and Jaune buckled it into a seat as they took off.

The heated air sent currents of wind swirling around them, and the bullhead tilted precariously. Ren did a good job of keeping it in control though, and by hanging onto the railings in the inside, they managed to all stay in the plane. Jets roared and Jaune was thrown backwards, barely able to keep his balance as the plane ripped through the smokey haze over the village and out over the countryside, jetting to the caravan of villagers.

/

It was a _slaughter_. Pyrrha had been in tough combats before, she had pushed herself to the breaking point numerous times, but then the pressure had always been on her. Now, she wasn't even a target. Black forms blurred as they leaped through the train of people screaming and running in terror. A carriage was knocked to the ground in front of her and she heard a woman scream as fangs sank into flesh.

A quick slash brought the attacking Beowolf with the red spines rounding on her, and Pyrrha ducked under the slashing claw. Before she could retaliate, another claw slashed up, and Pyrrha just managed to get her shield up in time. The force of the blow knocked her to the side and she staggered.

The Grimm lunged forward, clawing for her exposed leg. Pyrrha lifted the leg and hoped over the swing, whipping around and bringing her heel up to kick the creature in the face. It snarled as it eyed her carefully. It's gaze shifted over her shoulder, and she saw it tense ever so slightly. She dove to the side, but had misjudged. It hadn't been trying to attack her. She looked up as it barrelled into a villager running through the dusty chaos.

The man went flying, and Pyrrha flipped Milos around to expose her rifle. Three shots in the back, and the Grimm returned its attention to her. Pyrrha was forced to block with the shaft of her gun as it lunged in for her, but blocked the next two hits with her shield as Milos turned back into a sword. As the third blow landed, Pyrrha twisted under it and slid inside the beast's guard, slashing across its chest.

Most Beowolves would have reeled away, howling in pain, but this one just snapped forward, its chest knocking into her and sending her crashing to the ground. Without her aura, the blow hit her hard. Pyrrha had promised Jaune she would stay back in their next fight, but they hadn't been expecting such a viscous assault. Pyrrha couldn't idly stand by while the Grimm slaughtered citizens of Vale in droves.

Despite her best efforts though, that was essentially what she was doing.

The town guard had all fled or died by now, and her team was only made of four people. There was only so much that they could do.

The wolf snarled, and it tensed. Pyrrha couldn't follow its movements, but rolled backwards in time to avoid the claw that raked through the earth. It lunged forward, and Pyrrha kept her shoulder locked as it smashed into her shield. The momentum sent her rolling, but she used it to stand back up. As she came to her feet though, the Beowolf was gone.

There was a scream behind her, and another of the creatures had a young woman pinned to the ground, its limbs pressing down on her arms. It growled into her face, and Pyrrha flipped Milos around her hand, already throwing as it clicked into place as a javelin. The metal flew out of her hand and pierced the creature's throat, but before Pyrrha could see if the woman was alright, she was knocked sideways.

Small stones cut into her hand from the dirt as she skidded to a halt on her boots and glove, her other arm thrust out behind her to counterbalance. Her attacker didn't give her a reprieve, and Pyrrha lunged to swing forward with Akuo. She felt the sharp edge of the shield cut into fur before skittering across plated bone. She flipped backwards to avoid the teeth that came forward, gnashing for her unprotected thighs. She whipped Akuo forward, releasing the shield a fraction of a second before she landed. The shield flew level with the Grimm's back, smashing several of the crystallized red spines protruding from it.

The Beowolf jerked backwards, howling and writhing in pain. It landed back on all fours and glared at her, its red eyes burning. It snapped at her, but this time moved more slowly. Pyrrha was able to follow its movements the way she could with regular Grimm. She twisted easily to the side, avoiding the lunge. Her shield was somewhere past the Grimm, and Pyrrha spotted it. She dove forward and rolled, scooping it up. She heard dirt shift behind her and turned as the Beowolf crashed into her. She felt the force of the blow, but it wasn't as strong as that of the other Grimm she had seen that day. It swept its claw forward, she ducked, came up inside its guard, and the edge of her shield glided across its throat. Dark blood splattered onto her breastplate, but Pyrrha was already curling out from under the beast, looking for the next one. She saw a corpse dissolving next to the body of a woman, the same one she had tried to save. The Beowolf had a spear sticking out of its throat, so Pyrrha jogged over and extracted Milos.

She was at the back of the caravan, away from most of the carnage, and took a moment to analyze the situation. Nora and Ren were teaming up on one Beowolf, and Jaune's aura was flaring up as he held another one at bay. Her gut twisted as she saw her partner in danger, and Pyrrha had to force down the instinct to sprint after him. She worried about how much Jaune had been forced to use his aura, but he had a lot. He'd hold out for a little longer, and she knew her judgement about him was clouded.

There were three other Grimm bodies smoking in addition to the two that Pyrrha had killed. There had been nine left when they arrived, and that left two unoccupied. The screaming of the citizens had faded in her mind, though Pyrrha knew it was still there. She picked up the position of one of the Grimm, and sprinted towards it. There was a splintered cart that was carrying a large amount of abandoned personal belongs, and Pyrrha dashed up it, leaping off the top.

She twisted in the air, slashing across the back of the neck of the Beowolf that had its muzzle buried deep in a pile of gore. Pyrrha didn't allow herself to look at the body as the Grimm looked at her. It seemed to be making a decision, whether she was worth the effort. It began prowling forward.

Pyrrha hardly saw the indicative tensing of its muscles as it barreled into her. She recovered with a back handspring, but the hit had knocked the air out of her. She tried to block its next swing with Milos. The blade was knocked from her hand. She tried to suck in a breath, but ended up coughing in response. The Beowolf wasted no time in leaping on her.

Pyrrha rolled to the side to avoid the gnashing teeth, but found herself having to dodge again before she could get back on her feet. The beast leaped at her again, head butting her, and for the second time, the wind was knocked out of her lungs.

She coughed, wishing that her aura was working. She had been able to dispatch the other two by avoiding getting hit too hard, and if she had her aura, she'd be able to recover almost immediately. As it were, she was on her heels from the relentless attack and fighting to recover.

It swung for her side, and Pyrrha blocked. Its other claw stabbed at her, making Pyrrha twist viciously. She was too slow though, and the claw grazed her as it passed by. Somewhere behind her, she heard a group of children screaming.

She smashed Akuo into the Grimm's face, dazing it. She turned and sprinted towards the cries, and saw the last Beowolf towering over them. She saw its back tense, and she hit the ground, sliding under it. She brought her shield up, blocking the claw that had been descending towards the small group of children huddled together.

"Get away!" She cried, but the children were frozen in fear. She turned to urge them to run, but as she faced them, a heavy blow sent her crashing to the ground. She let out a gasp of pain, but got to her feet immediately. The Grimm was moving in on the kids, and Pyrrha steeled herself. She dashed in and swung at its torso. She managed to open up a cut on its chest. The Beowolf reared up on its hind legs, easily a foot taller than Pyrrha, the largest of the group. Behind it, she could see the other Beowolf, the one she had fled from, sneaking up on the group.

The alpha punched one of its claws down towards her, and Pyrrha skittered back. The claw cleaved into the ground in front of her, and Pyrrha slashed across it. The other Beowolf dashed forward, its jaws going for one of the kids. Pyrrha dove and rolled, holding her shield out to the side. She felt the Grimm smack into Akuo as she went by, and she dug her heel into the ground. She came up and whirled around, bringing her heel in for a kick. It connected with the Beowolf's face, and Pyrrha saw a line for the kill blow open up. The alpha lunged for one of the children though, and Pyrrha had to throw Akuo to knock its face aside.

"Run!" She yelled at the terrified group, and, finally seeming to get the message, they fled.

Pyrrha felt something connect with her leg, and suddenly she was sprawling. As she hit the ground, she rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a sharp claw mincing the ground where she had just been. She was weaponless now, and the alpha reared up in front of her as Pyrrha came up in a low crouch. The other Beowolf tried to bite her, and Pyrrha stepped inside its attack, but it was too close to the alpha. A heavy hind leg came out and smashed into her breastplate, forcing Pyrrha to the ground. She was pinned.

She tried to heave the limb off her, but the Grimm was heavy. It snarled at her, sensing its victory. The saliva between its jaws made its jaws glimmer, and Pyrrha raised her bracers in front of her, ready to try and fight off the killing blow.

A pink explosion blossomed on the side of its face, and a heavy roar sounded as Pyrrha felt the weight lifted from her chest. She rolled to her feet, dancing away as the second Grimm lunged for her. As she turned, she saw Nora taking aim again as Ren sprinted in to join the fray.

The alpha was preoccupied trying not to eat grenades with little pink hearts on them, and the smaller Beowolf lunged at Ren. Pyrrha looked around for her weapons, and saw Akuo on the ground behind the alpha. She dove between its legs as another explosion sounded off. She felt the shockwave of the blow as she scooped up Akuo. The alpha turned towards her, growling, but got a face full of pink dust. Pyrrha jumped off its knee and up to its shoulder, swinging around its back.

Earlier, when she had knocked the crystals off the back of a Beowolf, it had slowed down. She picked the largest crystalline spine she could see, and brought the sharpened edge of her shield down on it.

She was thrown as the Grimm reeled, but landed gracefully on her feet. It stumbled backwards, howling an ear-splitting shriek.

"Heads up!" She heard the call from behind her, and raised her shield above her. A moment later she felt the weight of Nora fall against her, and Pyrrha braced her knee into the ground. She tilted to the side, lining Nora up, and Magnhild fired off of Akuo. Pyrrha's knee dug into the ground from the force of the blast, but she stayed upright as she saw Nora fly through the air and swing her hammer hard. It smashed into the alpha's face as it was recovering, and the bone plate of its face shattered as its skull was caved in.

Pyrrha turned to help Ren, but the green-clad man was holding his own. He had abandoned his pistols, fighting only with his aura. It was a dangerous ploy, especially for battles that lasted any length of time, but Ren had perfected it. Every time the Beowolf moved, a ripple of purple energy would shoot out from one of Ren's palms and throw a supporting limb out from under the Grimm. It slashed at him, only to run into a purple bubble. Ren dropped and twisted, his palm smacking into the Grimm's knee. The bone shattered, and Ren followed up by coming across to the other leg. The Beowolf fell, entirely unsupported, and another aura enhanced palm met the back of its head, sending it smashing into the ground. Black smoke began to pool from the broken Grimm.

All the Beowolves were dead; it should have been a victory.

As Pyrrha's eyes drifted over the scene of destruction though, the splintered carts holding people's entire lives, the streams of crimson liquid soaking into the frosted grass, the mangled and broken corpses on the ground, she couldn't bring herself to believed it.

This was war.

And there were no victories in war.

/

"We could have killed them."

"I know," Cinder answered Mercury in that oddly pleasing voice. Mercury knew how devilish the woman was, but her voice could make anyone want to believe she was the most virtuous person in the world.

"So why didn't we? Those sigils could have been designed to activate faster." Emerald said with disdain.

"We're playing a... Delicate game here. We have the troops from the White Fang, the dust from Torchwick and the Grimm from the Pit, but we're going up against an entire kingdom. If they believe in their purpose, the citizens will join the fight, and then we'd be outnumbered ten to one. We can overpower the students, the military, the police and even the hunters, but we can't destroy the entire kingdom. Besides, that would defeat the point of a revolution."

"So... Letting four little twerps run away somehow stops citizens from joining a militia? Makes sense." Mercury let the sarcasm show, plain as day, in his voice.

"With all the greatest huntsmen and huntresses gone, the citizens will be looking up to the Beacon students to lead them. We're going to show them why they shouldn't."

"Again... That makes loads of sense."

"They need an idol. The top two team leaders at that school are Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc. Rose is... Well, if Torchwick is to be believed, she's taken care of. The Arc boy is the next best thing Beacon has."

"What about Ozpin?"

"Ozpin would have been a problem years ago, but he's _hardly_ the largest threat anymore. He won't be able to lead from the field, and his pet Goodwitch won't leave his side." She drawled, her rising and falling voice accentuating her points.

"So, about the blond idiot?" Mercury prompted.

"We build him up. He leads from the field, gets respect, a great reputation...

 _"And then we break him._ " She finished maliciously.

"Break him?" Emerald cut in.

"It's about showing the world why the regime that's in place can't work. We need to make one of their heroes fall."

"Didn't that already happen with you?" Mercury pointed out and crossed his arms.

"Yes," Cinder gave him a lethally soft smile. "But then there was no alternative. We're going to show the people that there's a better way."

"Whatever," Mercury dismissed. "As long as you don't throw us in jail after all of this, I'm happy."

/

 **In which the war above ground gets serious... We'll probably be returning to the Pit next week, and we'll get a ruby or weiss pov probably. I think the next JNPR chapter I'll try to go from Ren's perspective, though I don't really have much experience writing him.**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope you're enjoying. If you have any tips, tricks, comments or critiques, please let me know with a review! They'll help me improve the story to make it more enjoyable.**

 **-Unjax**


	8. Chapter 8

Weiss moaned.

She didn't know why that was the first thing she felt like doing, but she had the _worst_ headache - even worse than when Yang had made her go out drinking for her twenty-first birthday. She had cotton-mouth, her lips felt dry and cracked, and her stomach roiled around queasily.

"Weiss!" An excited chirp, far too loud for Weiss to be okay with.

"Shut up." She groaned again.

A few moments of blissful silence. Weiss didn't open her eyes. She didn't want to.

"Hey, Weiss." Ruby's voice. Weiss made a mental note to freeze her partner.

" _Shut up!"_ She hissed, pressing her palms to her forehead.

"Drink," Ruby ordered, and Weiss felt the opening of a bottle pressed to her lips. She greedily sipped at the cool water, making her parched lips wet. Before she could get the share she wanted, the bottle was drawn away from her lips and she frowned.

She let her eyes open.

It wasn't light, like she had feared, but pleasantly quite dark. ' _Why is it dark?'_ Ruby's face could only be seen thanks to the slight flickering of a flame next to her in a small phial of dust. Alarm bells went off in her head at the sight of compacted fire dust being ignited within a small glass tube, but the reprimanding words died on her lips. Ruby knew what she was doing.

"Give it back." Weiss demanded, fixing Ruby with an icy glare.

"Weiss, we need to conserve-"

"I don't care. Give me the water." She demanded again, but Ruby just sighed.

"Weiss, what's the last thing you remember?"

"You not giving me water when I obviously need it."

" _Weiss_ ," Ruby actually sounded serious, and that only happened once in a blue moon, so Weiss actually listened. Not without a sigh of complaint, naturally, but she listened. "First, we only have a couple bottles. Second, do you have any idea _how mad I am at you?"_ Ruby demanded, her voice actually catching with an edge of anger. Weiss had only heard it a handful of times, and never directed at her. She blinked, took a moment to consider why Ruby might be upset.

She closed her eyes again, pressing on the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger, trying to remember. Vale was being threatened by... Something. No, someone. Cinder. They had been sent on a mission to help CRDL, and-

"Oh," She said, remembering what she had done. "That."

"Yes, _that_." Ruby was kneeling, and her arms crossed in front of her chest. "You've been unconscious for nearly a day now. I had no idea if you were going to wake up."

"Ruby," Weiss said, now getting a little irritated. "I didn't have a choice."

"Of course you had-"

"No." Weiss cut her off before she could start talking. "There was no way for us to make it to the bottom of this pit alive if I hadn't done what I did. I knew I might die, and it didn't matter. What's important is surviving."

"What's important is that we _all_ survive."

"Ruby!" Weiss managed to stand, although nausea swept over her as she did so. "This isn't school anymore! This isn't some practice mission, or a survival scenario. It's not going to be easy, and it's definitely not going to be safe! I did what I had to do because there was no other choice!"

"Weiss, I-"

"Listen." Weiss demanded sharply. Ruby needed to hear this. For all of her capability as a leader, Ruby still hadn't come to a cold, hard realization about the world. One which Weiss had been acutely aware of for years. She needed to hear this. " _Sometimes_ people are put in positions where they can't find a way out. _Sometimes_ it works out anyways. _Sometimes_ people live happily ever after. _Most of the time?_ People end up getting hurt, and that means that sometimes people _die_. We don't have the luxury of controlling the board, Ruby, and that means that we might not have a choice when it comes down to it. I didn't have a choice. I did what I had to do."

Weiss glared at Ruby for a moment, and the red-clad woman just bowed her head.

"Weiss, I don't want that to happen." Weiss' heart softened a bit, and she knelt down next to her partner.

"We don't get to choose." Weiss still spoke sternly, but not as harshly. Her voice was weak now, the parched feeling returning to her throat. She felt woozy, and sat back down heavily. An overwhelming desire to fall asleep came over her, but she pushed the fatigue away. Weiss let out a breathy sigh as she

"I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that nothing like that happens." Ruby said, and Weiss couldn't help but admire the conviction in her voice. It was optimistic though, chances were Ruby wasn't going to be able to do anything about it if circumstances came down to something like that.

They didn't speak much after that, the silence and gloom of the cavern sucking any life away from the two. Nothing lively or exciting happened. Ruby informed her that they were waiting for Blake and Yang, who were trying to find a way out. Scouting.

Weiss wanted to get up and pace around, but her little tirade at Ruby had left her feeling sick, and she almost puked just thinking about getting up.

Hours passed.

Finally, Weiss thought she hurt a slight shuffle and a groan of pain in response.

"Watch it Blake," Someone hissed. Probably Yang. Definitely Yang, Weiss corrected. There was no one else who could talk in this hellhole, either than Blake, and she was pretty sure she could rule out the possibility that Blake had gone mad.

"Sorry," It was a pretty deadpanned voice, but probably still genuine. Definitely Blake. There was a soft glow as the two rounded the corner, Yang's hair letting off a little bit of light, and Weiss gasped.

Blake was taking the weight for the both of them, Yang limping along beside her. The reason was evident; Yang's thigh had a makeshift bandage around it, but the gash underneath was spilling blood down her leg. It was bad, making Yang's entire leg look like it was covered in a crimson legging. Even the exposed skin of her torso and arms, which there was more of now seeming as her clothes looked like an angry mob of moths had had their way with them, was covered by swipes of blood mixed with sweat. There was a streak of black going down Yang's hair, but Weiss decided not to mention it. Blake and Yang hobbled over, their progress slow and hampered.

"Yang!" Ruby's voice was breathy, like she had only been able to get out half a lungful.

"Sh!" Blake immediately answered, her golden eyes flickering around the cavern. "Grimm, on their way." She said mechanically, laying Yang down beside Weiss.

"Nice to see you're alive, Ice Queen."

"Keep calling me that and I'll make sure you're not." Yang laughed at that.

"Hey, I'm close enough anyways."

"What happened?" Ruby pipped up.

"Spiders are annoying little fu-"

"Later," Blake cut in, unwrapping what Weiss was realizing was Blake's ribbon, the one usually worn around her arm. As the black fabric, which would probably forever be stained a dark crimson now, came off from the wound, Yang sucked in a breath. "Water." Blake ordered, and Ruby tossed her a bottle.

"Blake?" Yang asked, propping herself up on her elbows.

"Mm?" The faunus didn't stop working.

"This is gonna hurt isn- Ah!" Yang let out the sharp cry of pain as Blake cleaned out the wound. The world got brighter for a moment. "Son of a-"

"Yang?" Blake interrupted. "Do you want me to knock you out?"

"Why?" Yang asked warily. Weiss was beginning to realize just how pale she looked.

"Because what happens next is going to hurt. A lot."

"Will you kiss it better after?" Yang asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Yang." Blake insisted, no joking now. Weiss was impressed at the ferocity of Blake's work. She went over to a backpack and started rummaging around.

"The Grimm?" Yang asked her partner.

"They'll be here soon."

"What?" Weiss cut in.

"Later." Blake snapped at her.

"Then I'll have to be awake to move."

Blake paused for a second, and sighed. She returned to Yang's side, and Weiss' stomach fluttered as she saw what was in Blake's hand. Blake removed the scarf from around Yang's neck and offered it to the blonde.

"Put this in your mouth."

"Kinky," Yang joked, but obeyed.

"I'm seriously going to kill you for those jokes, Yang."

"For someone who wants to kill me, you're trying awful hard to save me." Yang mumbled, her voice muffled by the orange cloth.

Weiss watched the back and forth curiously. She didn't know if it was the high tension situation or what, but something seemed different between the two. Yang in particular.

"Weiss, Ruby, make yourselves useful. I'll pin her legs, you two get her arms."

Yang squeezed her eyes shut as Weiss and her partner obeyed Blake. Weiss could feel the tension in her friend's muscles, so Weiss brought her knee up. Yang spat the cloth out of her mouth.

"Blake," She whispered, fear in her voice. "What if I lose control again?" Blake looked at her partner.

"You're not going to." Blake answered, her voice never rising or falling in pitch. She continued prepping Yang's leg.

"But what-"

"Yang!" Blake cut her off sharply, then took a shaky breath. "Just relax. You're not going to lose it because you can't. You'll be fine. Please," Blake practically begged the last word. Weiss cringed as she saw Blake using the object she had pulled from the bag to prep Yang's wound. Blake's other hand was tucked behind her back, holding something that Weiss couldn't see.

"Okay," Yang said, and Weiss felt her friend relax beneath her. Weiss stuffed the scarf back into the blonde's mouth. She was going to need it. "M-phay, g-mph-fit, fu-phradiftic phrittre phitty..." Yang's voice continued to mumble random nonsense, growing faster and quieter as Blake took a heavy breath. Weiss looked at Yang's leg, seeing Blake push the two halves of the cut together.

Blake's eyes closed, and Weiss tensed.

Then the red dust lit up.

Yang screamed through the fabric of her muffle. Powerful muscles bucked and writhed under Weiss, throwing her around, but Weiss managed to keep hold. Yang's hair lit up, burning a bright white. The air felt like it had been superheated, and Weiss felt any moisture on her lips evaporate. Ruby, on the other side of Yang, was lifted off the ground before managing to get control of Yang's hand again. The scream was loud and wild and full of pain, and when Yang opened her eyes, her irises were red.

Suddenly Blake was leaning overtop of her partner, and Weiss watched as Blake cupped her face, shouting at her, but Weiss couldn't hear anything over the agonized screams. A pulse of energy smashed through the air and dazed Weiss, making her ears ring. She spared a second to look down at Yang's leg. The fire was out, and she could see a fresh scar where there used to be a massive cut. The cauterizing was done, but the amount of agony Yang was in...

The air heated up even more, and Weiss returned her focus to the burning huntress beneath her. Blake was leaning over top of her partner, pinning her chest to the ground. Her one arm was still palming something behind her back, and tears streamed out of her face. She seemed to be pleading with Yang as the blonde grew hotter beneath Weiss. It felt like she was running scalding water over her hands just holding the woman's arms. Yang was still writhing uncontrollably, but burning red eyes were now fixed on Blake, staring at her intently.

Another blast of heat crashed out of Yang, and her eyelids fluttered as eyes started to roll back in her head. Through the continuous ringing, Weiss couldn't hear Blake slap Yang, but she saw it. She felt it too, accompanied by a flare of light and heat, making her sweat even more. It focused Yang again though, and the anger in those red irises from the slap faded as she looked at Blake.

Blake's other hand was drifting forward, tears streaming freely down her face now. Weiss tried to see the hidden object, but couldn't quite make out what it was. Blake kept pleading, bringing her face closer and closer to Yang's. Weiss could only watch as Blake sobbed and murmured silently, begging Yang for something, pressing their foreheads together. Blake gripped Yang's head fiercely and screamed something at her, but Weiss couldn't hear anything. It didn't seem like Yang did either.

Blake leaned even closer, and screamed something in Yang's ear. Weiss could make out the slightest muffle of a sound, but she still couldn't hear anything thanks to the ringing. It filled her mind as she watched Blake look at Yang for a second. There didn't seem to be any recognition on the blonde's behalf though, just chaotic writhing.

Blake dropped back on her haunches, and Weiss could see the utter despair on her face. Yang's skin was starting to burn her now, but Weiss kept her grip. Blake took a shaky breath, closing her eyes. She leaned forward, gave Yang a sloppy, quick kiss on the cheek, reared up, raising whatever was in her hand and-

Then, all at once, the heat vanished.

There was violent gasping, still silent, as Yang strained against Weiss and Ruby, sucking in air. Weiss looked at her, noticed her eyes were lilac again. Her hair was glowing, but not shining anymore, and her skin cooled quickly beneath Weiss. Her chest kicked up and down a few times, but then she shut her eyes, and within moments, was still again. There was still pain on her face, obvious from the sweat beading down her brow, but Weiss felt safe removing her hands from the blonde.

Blake looked down at her partner, let her arm drop. There was a slight movement as something fell out of her hand, and Blake pushed off her knees, standing, slowly, from her perch atop Yang. She walked away, and Weiss finally caught sight of the object that had been in Blake's other hand.

It was a phial of glacier blue dust.

The first sound that Weiss heard as the ringing cleared was Blake screaming.

/

 **Sorry for the long time between updates. I've been writing three separate stories and studying a bunch this week, and I only just managed to get back to this one. Couldn't bring myself to write this chapter from Blake's perspective. I just didn't think I would be able to show the depth of how she was feeling. So, this is something that will be mentioned later, as Blake comes to terms with things. Anyhow, next chapter is from Ren's perspective! Kind of excited, kinda nervous. Hope you enjoyed! Faves, follows and reviews always help too!**

 **-Unjax**


	9. Chapter 9

The air entered his lungs calmly, smoothly, and undisturbed. He felt it fill his chest, letting it expand, held it for a moment, and then let it out again. The breathing was rhythmic, had a pattern to it, and he allowed it to calm him. His mind was empty, calm, peaceful. Thoughts, vague and half-formed, washed to and fro, like the waves of an ocean scraping over sand. Notions and ideas, but nothing conscious. His mind was meandering, calmly, oh so calmly.

There was a short poking in his ribs, and his thoughts sharpened, his meditation ruined. He let out a heavy sigh.

"Nora..." He groaned, and was answered with an energetic giggle.

"Sorry, Ren." She lied. He knew she wasn't sorry at all. He didn't mind; he even smiled. His eyes opened, observing the familiar room. Long tables, stretching from one edge of the cafeteria to the other, full of students. They were laughing, joking, talking and generally being alive. It was quite chaotic in contrast to the peaceful tides of his mind. That's why he had Nora.

When he was alone, Ren almost always lost himself to his thoughts. They were calm and peaceful, composed, but they detached him from the world. That's what made it so easy for him to distance himself from the horrors of war. He just had to remove himself from any connections to the world around him, and then all that was left was peace.

Nora, on the other hand, was completely chaotic.

When they had first met as children, Ren had been annoyed by her. She disrupted his peaceful meditations at lunch, bothered him incessantly in class, and disrupted his calm little world. Then there was a day when she had been sick, and Ren had found that when he went home that evening, he felt like his day had missed something. It had, of course. Without Nora, Ren was stagnant. He just existed, with enough thoughts but without any action. What was the point of being alive if he didn't do anything with it?

After that revelation, he had done his best to put up with her antics, no matter how much they annoyed him.

"So, when are you going to make me pancakes?" Ren rolled his eyes and looked down at the food on his table. He had been halfway through cutting his steak. He frowned at that.

"And, if you're not making pancakes, what can you make? I'm really hungry." Nora was currently devouring a chicken leg. He just tilted his head at her and raised an eyebrow. She looked at the drumstick, then back to him. "Mwel, R'm not hngry _now_ ," She managed to get out between mouthfuls of poultry. She swallowed. "I'll be hungry later. You can make me something later, then. Or maybe you can make _us_ something, for like, you and me. We can eat it together, but not together, together, or we could, I'm honestly not against that," Her eyes fell across him nervously, and Ren felt a warmth spread through his stomach. Feelings of that sort were rare for him, so he smiled. "But of course that'd be weird, right? Right, but maybe all of us could eat together, like the four of us, and..."

Ren tuned out his energetic partner, though she did make him smile. He studied the other members of the team. Jaune hadn't eaten a thing, just sitting at the table with his head held between his hands. Beside him, Pyrrha kept looking at her partner worriedly. She didn't say anything though, and she was better about forcing herself to eat.

To Ren, everything tasted like dust. It all had lost its flavor and it sucked the water out of his mouth when he tried to eat. He had forced himself to down a decent share, but he knew he wasn't the only one. Nora was the sole member of the team who still seemed to have an appetite, but Ren knew better. The way she was holding herself was tense, and she was working her jaw too much for someone who was genuinely enjoying eating. Those were the little things that only he noticed.

He wanted to hug her for it.

What the others probably didn't understand was why Nora was trying to force herself to eat more. She was trying to cheer them up, especially Jaune. She always maintained a bubbly demeanor to help everyone feel better. A lot of people mistook it for not being too bright or not being able to understand social convention, but Ren had known her long enough to know she understood how to act. He knew that she was also pretty damn smart, but that she was also surprisingly fragile. She wanted everyone to be happy.

It just so happened that she was being placed in a position where no one could possibly be happy. He knew that no matter how hard she tried, Nora wouldn't be able to cheer anyone up. Within the span of a minute, she had fired off north of twenty different ideas for ways to get the experience off their minds, disguised as random gibberish. That's the kind of person that Nora was. Beautiful in her selflessness. Ren knew how hard it was for her to stay energetic when she was obviously feeling so crushed and defeated. Drained, just like they all were.

The ocean returned, un-beckoned. Thoughts, like waves, ebbed and flowed. Ren's mind powered down, the sharp, defined thoughts fading as he retracted within his body. Not a notion of who he was entered his mind, just the sensations he was experiencing. Soft tingling on his skin from the slightest of breezes in the nearly still air of the room. A warm smell, the pleasant sensation of air entering his lungs, he breathed out. He head his name called by Nora, opened his eyes again. He let out a sigh of relief as he came back to full consciousness.

The dinner passed quickly after that. Ren allowed himself to eat and lose his mind in Nora's rambling. Every time she went off on another tangent, he smiled. He didn't know how to let her know how much he appreciated what she did, but that was a problem for later. He just allowed himself to enjoy her selflessness.

After everyone had had their fill of tasteless food, they got up to return to their dorm. They walked through the halls, no one speaking a word. Ren was fine with that. As they rounded the last corner to their room though, Ren felt a hard tugging on his sleeve. He was about to turn around and reprimand Nora when he realized that she was walking ahead with Pyrrha.

"Ren, can we talk?" Jaune asked, keeping behind the corner. Rather than answering, Ren just nodded. He wasn't particularly curious, but if his leader wanted to talk, he was happy to oblige. "How do you do it?" Jaune's voice seemed to yearn for something, but Ren's brow just creased.

"What do you mean?"

"How do you detach yourself? How do you stay calm with all of this happening?" Ren thought for a moment. He supposed he was calm in comparison to his teammates. The meditation helped, but part of it was just his nature. He had never been one to get too uptight about things. The world worked how it worked. Everything that could happen would happen, and though he might strive to change it, there was no point in dwelling on what had already come to pass.

"It's not really a skill that I train." Ren answered monotonously, thinking about the vast waters of his mind and how easy it was to drown in them. "It's just how I am." Jaune groaned.

"Any pointers? Like, at all?"

"What's wrong Jaune?"

"It's all of this. The things that have been happening," He trailed off for a moment, his eyes unfocused. "How do I make the right decisions when I can't come to grips with what's going on? I need to be more levelheaded, like you."

"There's a reason you're team leader." Ren noted, and Jaune narrowed his eyes at the green-clad man.

"Ozpin had pity on me in first year?"

"No, he saw something in you. First, when we're in high intensity situations, you make good decisions. There's something more important though."

"What's that?"

"You care." Ren said it simply enough. He wondered if his tone had changed to convey his belief in the words. He doubted it; his tone hardly ever changed.

"That's... Pretty useless." Jaune murmured, leaning against the wall and sliding down it.

"It's more important than most things."

"Caring doesn't help me save lives." Ren met his gaze roughly. Jaune looked dubious. "How?"

"If you don't care, you make the wrong choices. You care about the people we're saving, and that makes all the difference."

"If I cared less, I could be more objective-"

"And then you wouldn't be the team leader." Jaune gave him a questioning look, and Ren sighed. "I can stay levelheaded in almost any situation. I don't get attached quickly. I would have made the call to fight Cinder then and there in the village. I would have let hundreds of people die for a chance to end this war before it begins."

"You think this will be a war?"

"I don't doubt it." Jaune looked disheartened at that.

"How many more people will die because Cinder's still alive? She's practically on a crusade out there. If we had killed or captured her, this would be over. The border towns that are under siege wouldn't have people dying in droves right now."

"If we made the call to condemn a few hundred lives for those of the rest of the kingdom, we'd be doing nothing more than she is. Cinder believes what she does will better the world - probably, or she's just a psycho - but she's willing to sacrifice a few people so that others will, in her mind, prosper. It's a numbers game.

"But you didn't do that. For you, it mattered more that we did everything we could to save everyone. We can dispute the moral ground of our actions for years and never come to a consensus on what's right, but, at the least, you've shown we care for every citizen in Vale."

"What about Pyrrha, or Nora? Who's to say they wouldn't do better? Pyrrha cares, and she's much more capable than I am."

"Nora? Leading team JNPR?" Ren just deadpanned the question. Jaune laughed a little.

"Pancakes every morning for breakfast doesn't seem too bad."

"That's because you wouldn't be the one making them." Jaune gave a hearty chuckle at that. Ren returned with a small smile. Jaune's laughed sounded strained though, forced.

"Seriously though, Pyrrha would make a great leader. She's good at talking to people, she's smart, she cares, she's incredibly capable."

"Pyrrha has one serious flaw." Ren said, and Jaune looked at him confusedly. "She cares too much. If it came down to the choice between saving you or the kingdom, I don't think Pyrrha could do it. She would sacrifice the world to save those close to her. She doesn't take moral stances, she just does what's right for her friends." Jaune looked shocked.

"Pyrrha's smart, she'd know-"

"If you asked her to burn down a village," Ren cut off his leader. "She would do it." Pyrrha was absolutely devoted to Jaune. He didn't mention that she might question it if Jaune had never been apart of the team, but it was clear to Ren that Pyrrha loved Jaune. She would do anything for him. He was also displeased that Jaune obviously cared for the scarlet haired warrior as well, but neither of them would make a move. He was sure they had their reasons; he just thought it would be a lot simpler if it was out in the open.

"So that leaves me." Jaune looked a little shaken at having his partner talked about so bluntly. Ren, having said his part, just nodded. "Alright Ren, you should probably get some rest." The blond haired man added tersely. Ren thought he looked fifty years older than he was in that moment. The dark shadows under his eyes, his weary, guarded posture, and the pain so prevalent in his ocean blue orbs all added to the effect. Knowing there was no more he could say, Ren rounded the corner that would lead to the dorm room. He entered it to find that Pyrrha was already asleep, and Nora had her headphones plugged in while she read.

As he approached, Nora looked up to him, raising her hands to her headphones. A silent question, whether she should remove them, but Ren shook his head. Nora turned back to her book as Ren sat down on the bed next to her. Generally speaking, he wasn't particularly emotional. When things got bad he could let his mind wander, start to meditate, but he knew that the hollowness he was feeling now had to be dealt with. He couldn't just leave it.

He lay down on Nora's bed, letting his head rest against the soft, fluffy, pink pillows that Nora loved. A few minutes later, Nora's headphones were removed and her bedside lamp clicked off, plunging the room into shadows. Ren didn't move, but he felt a warm body press against his and a strong arm wrap around his torso gently.

"It'll be alright Renny." The comforting words eased Ren a little, especially with the accompanying touch. There was a thought that retaliated against it though, and that was what Ren couldn't help but focus on.

What if it wasn't going to be alright?

/

 **Ren's perspective! I feel that the way it's set up here, I'm going to have to play with it more as time goes on.**


	10. Chapter 10

"Glynda-"

"I don't like." Her sharp blonde hair stuck out against the night sky displayed in perfect clarity through the glass of the clockwork room's window. Ozpin sighed, taking a sip of his coffee as he leaned on his cane. She was standing stiffly with her hands clasped behind her back, holding her riding crop tightly.

"Neither do I." The headmaster answered, pointedly meeting her gaze in the glare of the glass. He saw her eyes close before she breathed heavily and turned around.

"Leaving Beacon doesn't seem... Wise to me."

"I can hardly entrust an entire army to a student." Ozpin said with a hint of a chuckle.

"Leaving you here alone though? It's dangerous."

"I won't be alone. Port and Oobleck will be here, and though they may be old, neither of them are slouches." He walked up to his friend and laid a hand on her shoulder. She cast her eyes down at the contact, and for the briefest of moments she looked vulnerable. The immovable, steely woman looked almost like a child again. He was reminded of a wide-eyed student he had met when he had first begun teaching at Beacon.

"Sir, whoever these people are, they aren't novices. They know what they're doing."

"I don't doubt it Glynda, but we're not in a position where we hold all the cards. We don't have that many options."

"Send Peter or Bartholomew then. They are both _capable_." Her voice sounded almost strangled at the word.

"While they are both strong combatants, we both know that that isn't the issue here. We have a chance to stop this incursion, and you are the only huntress left who might be able to tip the scales in our favour. I would go myself-"

"We both know that's not an option." Glynda crossed her arms in front of her chest, and Ozpin stepped past her to look out the window. He made a soft 'hmm' of conformation. She was entirely right. Once upon a time, Ozpin would have been comfortable dealing with the entire situation by himself, but those days were long gone. Power always comes with a price.

"Glynda, I know you mean well, but this has to be done."

"I don't want to leave Beacon, or you, sir." She said curtly, but he could hear the strain in her voice. Once, Ozpin had been the kingpin when it came to defending Beacon, but now, the burden had fallen on Goodwitch. She was one of the strongest students he had ever met, physically and mentally resilient, and she had willingly stepped in to fill his shoes after graduation. Eventually, she would be the one sitting behind his wooden desk.

"Beacon will survive a few days without you." Ozpin smiled. "As will I. The incursion is still at the edges of Vale. Beacon won't become a target for a long while."

"Sir, the murders of the huntsmen and huntresses happened in the middle of the night, and all of them within the city. This organization's reach extends far beyond the battlefront."

"And if it comes to that, there would be nothing either of us could do." Ozpin let out a heavy sigh. "Besides, they wouldn't dare try to attack me."

"Why's that?"

"Because they think I have you." He answered with a smirk.

There was a heavy thud outside the door, and Ozpin frowned. Glynda was immediately on alert, he hand held out with her riding crop in front of her. She flicked her wrist, and the heavy oak doors burst open. On the floor outside the room lay Velvet Scarletina, covered with dirt, grime and soot.

Ozpin frowned. By all accounts, Velvet should have been dead. He was pleased though, and the reason was twofold. First, he liked Velvet. Second, Cardin had only given him coordinates to the rendezvous point. Ozpin had no idea where team RWBY might be if they were still alive.

Glynda strutted over quickly and knelt down next to the huntress. She checked Velvet's pulse, looking up at him after a moment and giving a sharp nod. She was alive. Ozpin walked over himself, standing above the two. He took a sip of his coffee. He was fairly certain the girl's aura had been exhausted, probably over-exerted slightly. She also seemed very, very tired. Glynda slid her arms under the slight girl and hoisted her up, carrying her bridal style.

"We ought to get her to the medical wing." Ozpin commented. Very few people understood his humor, but Glynda did. She shot him a sharp glare that made him very aware that she did not appreciate the obvious statement. The huntress rather just started towards the elevator doors. Ozpin took another sip of his coffee.

"When she wakes up, let me know." The doors shut behind Goodwitch and he turned back to walk into the clockwork room. He sat down in his high-backed leather chair and placed his coffee on the desk. His thoughts wandered, taking in the new information and analyzing the old. There was certainly a few things to be learned from Velvet, but that could wait until the poor girl awoke. Ozpin twisted the chair around so he could look out at the night sky and the moon far above that was hitting the point in its cycle where all of the fragments came into clear definition, scattered across the sky like a myriad of falling stars.

/

Blake stalked silently through the stoney passageways beside her team. They were heading further into the tunnels, their way lit by Yang's ever glowing hair and a small phial of burning red dust that Weiss held. Blake's feet felt like they were weighed down though, the guilt ripping her stomach to shreds. It had taken her a while to calm down enough to start walking, and they had needed to go right away. Yang could hardly walk, so Ruby was supporting the weight of the left side of her body. Blake knew she should have been the one doing that. First, she was a lot stronger than the shorter girl, and second, Yang was her partner.

Blake wondered if she deserved that title anymore.

She still felt like she wanted to curl up in a ball and weep. The torrential storm of thoughts in her mind swirled around, screaming at her, causing her to slow in silent anguish. She wanted them out. She wanted them all out. Blake didn't want to think anymore.

"I think there's a cavern ahead." Ruby whispered, breaking the brittle silence. Blake looked up from where her gaze had been locked on the ground to see that the faint light playing off the tunnel faded a few meters in front of them. It suggested that the rock expanded past that point, likely into a large space.

"So, we get to rest now, right?" Yang half-moaned half-mumbled. There was no answer, but rather a silent consensus. They hadn't run into any Grimm, likely because their previous camp site would be getting overrun right about now. They had made enough noise to draw the entire population of Grimm in this hell-hole to where they had been.

Blake trudged after her leader and partner, trailing a few steps back. Before they made it to the end of the tunnel though, she felt something grab her arm firmly and pull her into a side corridor. Blake's hand shot to her back for Gambol Shroud before she realized that it was Weiss who had thrown her into the passage.

"We need to talk." The heiress' eyes flickered with the reflection of the small flame in her hand. Despite the fiery image, they were ice cold.

"About what?" Blake managed to keep her voice bland and aloof despite the raging emotions in her mind.

"About this." Weiss deadpanned, bringing a second phial of dust up beside the one that was alight. This one was a pale blue that was almost transparent. Blake's stomach dropped, and the guilt seemed to crush her insides. It was the phial that she had thrown away when Yang had regained control. "This brand of dust is a particularly powerful one. A well known fact for anyone with any scrap of knowledge about dust is that you can gauge the grade of dusts by their formations. When it comes to ice dusts, a darker, more opaque blue indicates a low quality dust. But, if a dust is formed almost white and more transparent, it can be valued at a much higher quality."

"I know how dust works, Weiss."

"Apparently you don't." The heiress' stony gaze bored into Blake. "This kind of dust is capable of freezing a Deathstalker in its tracks. In a test performed by the SDC, one phial of it was able to turn a ten thousand cubic meter tank of water into solid ice. The remarkable thing about this dust is that the same amount was able to freeze just one cubic meter of water with absolute precision, lowering the temperature almost instantly to two-hundred degrees below freezing." Blake just looked at the dust in Weiss' hand. It felt like someone had decided to cut her abdomen open and then filled it with shards of scrap metal.

"So why did I see you about to use it on Yang?" Weiss' glare was venomous. Blake lowered her eyes. She didn't think Weiss could ever understand how much Blake hated herself for what she had done.

"You don't understand-"

"I do. You were about to kill your partner. Freeze her into a block of ice. And don't think I didn't figure out how Yang got that wound in her leg." Weiss accused, and Blake slumped against the wall. She felt hot tears come to her eyes, but she tried to fight them down.

"Do you want me to tell you you're wrong?" Her words were shaky, no longer controlled and composed.

"I want you to stay away from the rest of the team. You're a _danger_." Her voice cut like a knife. Blake hadn't heard such hatred in Weiss' voice since back in first year when the young woman had been talking about the White Fang. They had murdered her family and dozens of people she had known. Blake had been about to kill one more.

"Don't think I wanted to do it." Blake said, almost sobbing. She felt like a stray cat, cornered in an alleyway by snarling hounds. She wanted to run away, but the truth wasn't something she could run from.

"I don't care. Yang might forgive you because she loves you, but don't _ever_ touch her again."

" _What?_ " Blake practically demanded. Yang _what_ now?

"You heard me!" Weiss pointed a finger into Blake's face. "Yang would forgive you for anything because she loves you, but I'm not going to let that be a danger to our team."

"Weiss!" Blake was surprised at the sternness in her voice. Weiss paused, holding her tongue for long enough for Blake to get a word in edgewise. "You need to know why I did it."

"No, I don't." Weiss started to walk away again.

"She was going to kill us." Blake whispered, and that brought the white haired woman wheeling about.

"What?" Weiss' voice was low and dangerous - skeptical.

"If she hadn't been able to regain control, we would have died." Blake let her voice drop dangerously.

"She was getting hot, but that-"

"You didn't see her in that cave." Blake snarled, letting the guilt and fear drive her anger. "She went supernova! The stones around her were _melting_. I couldn't even get close enough to get her away from the molten rock. I had to use Gambol Shroud on my own _partner._ "

"You still think you're her partner? We could have knocked her out, or used less powerful dust. There are a thousand things we could have done other than _kill Yang!_ " Weiss spoke like she knew it for a fact, but Blake shook her head. What they had seen of Yang was just the beginning. Blake doubted even she had experienced what Yang's aura unleashed was like.

"How would we knock her out?" Blake asked. Weiss opened her mouth, then closed it, frowning. "Any blunt blow to the head would just make it worse. Maybe dust then, but the only dust powerful enough to put an end to that kind of inferno..." Blake trailed off as her eyes drifted towards the phial in Weiss' hand. The heiress looked down at it, then her mouth dropped open in shocked realization.

"You were-"

"I don't know how I feel about Yang," Blake continued, the words falling out of her mouth uncontrollably. Whenever she thought of her partner, a whirlwind of confusion, happiness, sadness, fear, and guilt crashed over her. "But the last thing I would ever, _ever_ , want to do is hurt her. I would have preferred to die than do what I was going to, Weiss. I was only willing to do it because it would save you and Ruby. Judge me if you want, but you have _no_ idea what kind of a decision I had to make."

Blake met Weiss' eyes evenly, headless of the tears streaming down her face. The heiress was taken aback. Her blue eyes, almost the same shade as the dust in her hand, were wide in shock.

"Blake, I'm sorry." Weiss voice was thin, like she was struggling to get enough air.

"Don't be," Blake almost spat the words. "You should hate me. Dust knows I hate myself."

And Blake strutted away, leaving her teammate behind, not sparing a look over her shoulder. Blake utterly despised herself, and Weiss had been right to hate her. It had been for the wrong reason, but it was the right sentiment. Blake deserved all the venom she had heard in Weiss' voice.

 _'I was going to kill her.'_

Blake wiped the tears from her eyes and forced a smile as she walked over to where Ruby was lowering Yang onto the ground. She would smile, and pretend to be okay, but there was a hollowness in her stomach now that Blake had to wonder if she would ever escape.

/

 **Kind of a transition chapter, but somewhat necessary. Sorry for it slowing down a bit here, but I promise, it'll be picking back up again real soon!**


	11. Chapter 11

Velvet looked around the small room. It was little more than a white box, almost glowing due to its unnatural cleanliness. Her head ached, as did her shoulder and she could feel multiple cuts over her skin. It took her a moment to place the location: the white sheets, the plastic tray with bland food atop it, and the machines on the wall. She was in the medical wing.

"Welcome back, miss Scarletina." The voice was feminine and stern, and Velvet blinked before she realized that perched on a squat stool next to her bed was Goodwitch. The teacher stood, her tablet tucked in her hand, taking a few notes. Velvet didn't feel like saying much. She knew why she was where she was, and she knew why she was alone there. Goodwitch looked at her curiously when she didn't reply before turning back to the tablet.

"As you know, we must go through the debriefing process and-"

"Where the hell is Cardin?" She demanded coldly, the words dropping out of her mouth before she could reel them in. Goodwitch pulled her glasses down to the bridge of her nose, eyeing Velvet over their brim. She removed them and tucked them onto a table, followed by her tablet. It was the first time that Velvet had ever seen the huntress without her glasses on, and she looked infinitely more human. The distant teacher was gone, and in her place, a woman with the slightest hint of compassion.

"Velvet, there are more important things." It wasn't as reprimanding as Velvet had expected. "Cardin is gone, presumably working with Torchwick or dead. You need to tell me what you know. Team RWBY was sent in after you, and they're missing now. We need to know where they are." Straight to business, then.

"They're dead." Velvet wondered if her voice sounded as hollow as it felt. Goodwitch frowned.

"Velvet, they very well may not be-"

"You don't understand. Whatever that place is, no one can survive it. Those Grimm..." Her voice trailed off, and the memories came. Gleaming fangs, stained crimson with the blood of her team. Claws sharper than steel raking through flesh, and always, those gleaming red eyes.

She remembered the look on Yatsuhashi's face. She had loved him, she knew that much. She had never been particularly aggressive, and he stood up for her when she wouldn't do it for herself. He had cared for her on the hardest nights of her life, when she just didn't want to go on being a faunus. He had held her as she cried the first time she had seen a civilian die.

That had been a horrifying experience. It was their second mission, trying to stop a pack of Creeps. The small, raptor-like Grimm had just been so numerous that they hadn't been able to stop all of them. Not fast enough. Velvet, Coco, Fox and Yatsuhashi had all been fine - the Grimm hadn't been particularly dangerous. But the civilians were not. Three of them got cornered by a couple of the Grimm. Velvet had seen it, she had tried to save them, but by the time the Grimm lay smoking at her feet, all the smoke blurred was the blood leaking from the eviscerated bodies.

She had been a wreck for a week. Even after, she had never forgotten their faces. Yatsuhashi had only ever left her to get her food or a bowl of soup. Velvet had never been the strongest on their team, mentally or physically, but with Yatsuhashi's help, she had gotten better. She had been strong enough to keep going, but she had faltered. Every time she lost her footing, Yatsuhashi had caught her.

Seeing him die had been infinitely worse than those three innocents.

It was like someone has ripped the heart right out of her chest. Her knees had nearly buckled, tears had sprung to her eyes without her realizing, The foundation of her world, the strength she had always felt next to him, had crumbled. She had been left short of breath, gasping desperately for air that refused to come.

In a cruel way, she had been saved from the sight by one just as bad. A hand, slick with the bearer's blood, had ripped her away from him. Coco. She had been chewing on the end of a cigar, trying her best not to grimace at the massive cut on her arm. She had told Velvet to run, instructed her that her prime purpose now was to warn Beacon. She had said that Velvet didn't have a choice, and then had turned back to face that thing. It had been feasting on Fox, who was nothing more than a pile of gore.

Velvet rolled to the edge of the bed and vomited, a small amount of bile leaving her throat and burning it on the way. There wasn't anything else in her stomach, but Velvet just kept dry heaving at the memories. She coughed, but was cut off by another heave, her stomach convulsing as if the memories were poison. She gagged and choked as she fought for air. The next heave sent red and black spots flying across her vision.

That was the last one, and Velvet gasped as she sucked in a heavy breath. Saliva dripped from her mouth, and she wiped it on her sleeve. Under her covers, Velvet was warm, but she still shook uncontrollably. There were tears in her eyes, and she didn't know if it was from the acid in her throat or the wolves in her mind.

"One Beowolf." She tripped over the words as she spoke, and paused to swallow, grimacing as the burning briefly intensified. "One Beowolf was all it took to kill all of my team. There's thousands of them down there. Nobody can survive that place."

"We've encountered Grimm of that sort." Goodwitch hummed. "Though none were strong enough to take on an entire team of hunters." She mused, half to herself. Velvet scowled.

"They're probably saving them for something." Velvet commented darkly. Goodwitch paused, looking at the younger huntress.

"We may know what for." Velvet just looked at her absently. She was having trouble thinking past the memories threatening to come into her mind again. It was like balancing on a tightrope. The slightest shift in her thoughts and she would plunge into those memories. "Velvet, things have happened while you've been gone." Velvet gave her a blank stare. "It started with some frequent Grimm incursions on the border of Forever Fall, then it was discovered that some of the augmented Grimm had appeared in an attack. They were placed in strategic positions."

"Placed?"

"It seems that the faction that killed your team has found a way to control or at least influence the Grimm. It's the only explanation for it, unless the Grimm have suddenly become much, much smarter." That was bad, Velvet decided. "And then, in one night, twenty-four of the kingdom's strongest hunters were murdered." That was worse. Velvet knew she should have cared, but she couldn't think of any horror beyond the one she had experienced. "We're low on numbers, and I know that it's customary to allow time to grieve, but we are called upon time and again to make sacrifices. We don't have a choice, and so I must ask you to prepare yourself."

"What for?"

"Tomorrow we leave for Oakshire. It's a small town about halfway between Forever Fall and here, and it's where we will be putting an end to this madness."

"And once the Grimm are dead?" Goodwitch looked at her passively.

"Then we take care of the ones who organized them."

Velvet wondered if Cardin would be there. She knew he wouldn't be once she got through with him.

* * *

"So, what's the plan?" Yang's voice held an edge to it, as if she were still in pain. Ruby looked at her sister and a twinge of guilt shot through her. It was her responsibility to make sure that her team was safe. Through the first three years of school she had done well. There had been the occasional scrape or bruise, but nothing too serious. Now though, in the span of just a few days, her partner had been knocked into a coma and her sister had nearly died. Half her team.

Ruby wanted to be sick.

She looked over at the dark haired faunus next to Yang, who's face somewhat resembled the stone carving of a statue. She had worn a forced smile for a few minutes, and whenever Yang was looking at her, but the rest of the time, Blake was completely emotionless. Ruby was wondering if Blake was really still okay.

"What did you guys find when you were scouting?" Ruby asked. Yang went for a half-hearted chuckle.

"Spiders," She joked dryly. No one laughed.

"The tunnels thin out towards the top." Blake said monotonously. "As far as I can tell, the higher we get, the easier it's going to be to find the way out."

"Why don't we just scale the walls?" Yang interjected.

"Because you're in such great shape to be rock climbing." Weiss answered sarcastically. "Besides, my aura's still recovering. If we fall, it won't be like last time."

"We can use Gambol Shroud to tie ourselves in." Blake suggested.

"Not a bad idea." Ruby mused.

"And what about the Grimm?" Weiss pointed out. Ruby sighed.

"Blake, how far down are we?"

"It was hard to tell, but probably a couple of kilometers. It was a long fall."

"I hadn't noticed." Yang quipped.

Ruby thought for a moment. Climbing all the way up would be dangerous. If they fell, there was no way they'd be able to survive again, except maybe Yang. They couldn't go all the way up then, but maybe they could make a small scale to one of the higher tunnels. That way they'd cut down the distance they would have to travel and also hopefully put the Grimm off their tails for a while.

"Alright, we scale up a ways, but only to the next set of tunnels above us."

"We should get moving." Weiss stated, looking at her scroll. They had no signals this far below ground, but the power, though low, had held this long. They could check the time. "The sun will set before too long."

"We should let it set." Blake interjected, and Ruby frowned.

"Grimm are more active at night. Everyone knows that." Blake shook her head.

"Grimm are usually more active at night. They're drawn towards fear, anger, and pain, and for humans, night is fear inducing. You can't see in the dark, which puts you on edge. For the faunus though, night has become a refuge from humans. We're more comfortable then. When I was with the White Fang, we got attacked more often in the day."

"So as long as we're not scared, we'll be fine at night." Yang confirmed with a nod. Ruby dropped back into thinking. "Or we don't get angry. Someone should tell Weiss to keep quiet or I might just lose it."

"Hey!"

"And the dark will help hide us." She mulled the thought around in her mind. "Alright, we're going to wait until dark. We should start making our way towards the centre of the pit though. It's going to take awhile."

"Sorry about that," Yang mumbled. Blake put her arm around her partner and hoisted her to her feet. Ruby cringed as Yang almost collapsed, but Blake caught her around the waist. "Whoa, slow down there kitty."

Ruby just looked at her sister confused. She had no idea what was happening between Yang and Blake. She shrugged and set off down the tunnel.

* * *

Jaune cupped his face in his hands, letting out a heavy sigh. The preparations were all made. They had talked to the town guard earlier, and all of their forces had been distributed along the outer wall facing Forever Fall. There had been some spare androids, but at Jaune's urging, Goodwitch had not activated them. He didn't want them being relied upon at strategic points and then malfunctioning again. Reports from a few of the scattered huntsmen and huntresses that had joined them indicated that all the towns along the border of Vale had undergone a similar process. The androids always failed, at crucial times as well.

Something fluffy and cold touched his cheek and Jaune frowned. He looked up at the light grey overcast sky, noticing little pinpricks of pure white tumbling down. A few alighted on his skin, tickling it slightly. Some part of him wanted to laugh, but it was a part of him that had been shoved into a dark recess in the corner of his mind. It was not something he could think about now. Nothing joyous. He had to focus.

"It's kind of beautiful, is it not?" Pyrrha's voice drifted into Jaune's ears, instantly calming him. She had that effect on him. Things got bad a lot, and oftentimes got worse after that, but no matter how bad things got, Pyrrha was always a source of comfort for him.

"It's not really fitting," He commented back. This was their last stand in a sense. All the remaining huntsmen and huntresses in Vale were there, and there were not many of them. Jaune had asked Goodwitch why the students from Beacon weren't there, but they had stayed back at Ozpin's urging. Either the old professor was unrealistically optimistic or he was thinking that Jaune wasn't. They needed all the help they could get.

"Maybe not, but you must still enjoy the beauty of it. A little bit of purity amidst the chaos of our lives." Jaune smiled at that. He was suddenly very aware of how close they were. Even in the cold winter air he could feel the heat radiating off of her silky skin. She smelled good, like olive and lavender. Her shoulder brushed his as she took the last step between them, turning to look over the wall towards the great plain in front of them. In the far distance, he could make out the trees and mountains covering the backdrop of the landscape, but in front of him was nothing but a long field of grass. The snow wasn't sticking yet, still at the point where it melted as it touched the ground. He was almost happy for that - it meant that their little piece of purity couldn't be sullied quite yet.

"How's your aura doing?" He asked, and felt something tugging on his sheath. He looked down to see Crocea Mors floating in front of him. He looked at Pyrrha, but she was sweating and breathing hard from the effort of it. This was something she used to be able to do many times over without even registering it, but now it was like she was trying to lift a mountain. Since Cinder had pricked her with that little, seemingly insignificant needle. The sword clattered onto the stone battlement harshly, and Pyrrha sucked in a shaky breath.

"Whoa," Jaune held his arm out to steady her, grabbing her shoulder gently. She lay her arm atop his, using it as support. She keeled over slightly, raising her other hand to wipe off the bead of sweat that had popped up on her brow as she took deep breaths.

"It's getting better." She spoke softly, exhausted from her display. "I can fight tomorrow."

"If it was up to me, you wouldn't be."

"Didn't Ozpin put you in charge of field commands?"

"Technically, Goodwitch is."

"But you could still make the call."

"Not really, not anymore." Her brow furrowed. There was concern in her eyes, but Jaune was more worried for her right now. He leaned over and retrieved his sword. He stood up, and a part of him was disappointed to note that he wasn't standing as close to her as he had been before. Something about their earlier proximity had made him feel... warm inside. Almost like the slight buzz of alcohol in one's stomach, but infinitely better.

"What do you mean?"

"This isn't really something I can tell you not to do. You have to fight, we all do. If we want any chance of saving the kingdom, we need to put a stop to this. The last thing I want is for my team- " _Well, really you. "_ To get hurt, but we're being called upon to do something. The citizens can't protect themselves, not from this. A lot of the huntsmen and huntresses were murdered. The androids don't work anymore, and as far as we know, the White Fang is still working with Torchwick and Cinder. So, because no one else can, we have to fight."

"There's always a choice, Jaune." He thought about it for a second. He wasn't sure what she was suggesting, but her remembered Ren's words. _'She would sacrifice the world to save those close to her.'_ He wondered if his friend was right, if Pyrrha would let others die to protect those that mattered most to her. He couldn't imagine it. Pyrrha was as close to perfect as people got, and she wouldn't do that. But, though Pyrrha was capable, she had probably never come up against a situation where she had to compromise either. Neither of them probably knew what she would do given the choice.

"One way or another, we're making a sacrifice." He muttered, half to himself and half to her. "The citizens lives to save our own, or our lives to protect the citizens. One way or another, we all lose." The words were bitter, he knew that, but he couldn't help it.

"We'll make it through this Jaune." He felt a soft touch on his hand, and looked down to see her own brushing against his. His heart leapt into his throat and it felt like someone was electrocuting him from his hand, sending thousands of volts through his body.

"If we don't though..."

"We will."

"Pyrrha, I want to tell you someth-" He cut himself off as he looked away from the contact.

He should tell her. He really should. It should be easy, all he had to do was say how he felt. But how did he feel? How could he explain the tumultuous myriad of emotions flipping his stomach around like it was in a washing machine? And how could he say that on the eve of a war?

He didn't know if he'd make it until the next sunset.

"Yes?" The question was simple and innocent, but couldn't have been more harrowing.

"Never mind," He said, shaking his head. She rested her hand on his shoulder, and he froze at the contact. He should say it.

"You know you can tell me," She said, and Jaune looked over at her. Her emerald green eyes were shinning happily, her lips turned up in a trusting smile. He stared at her lips for a moment, mentally noting how attractive they were. Briefly, he wondered what it would be like to kiss them.

He slammed his eyelids shut, forcing himself to take a deep breath. It wouldn't be fair to say it. Not now. Even if he made it through the coming battle, he didn't know if she would feel the same way. Their partnership worked. He had never had a closer friend (well, he hadn't really had _any_ friends before Beacon), and though he knew how he felt, he could live with that staying below the surface. She never needed to know.

"Uh, nothing," He stammered out.

"Oh," She looked away dejectedly, and something surged inside Jaune.

"No, it's just," Why was he talking? There was no good thing that could come from him talking at that moment. He just didn't want her to look like that, like he had betrayed her somehow. "Um, you smell nice." It came out as a question.

Pyrrha laughed, though lightly. She met his eyes levelly, and they were shining. She smiled at him. He wondered if it was just his eyes or whether her cheeks actually looked a little red.

"Thanks Jaune," There was a laugh in her voice, and Jaune smiled at that.

Then he heard the compressed hiss of a dust engine. He looked up, frowning, reaching for his sword. There was a Bullhead flying above them, but it was too far away to be doing a whole lot of anything. He frowned at it, wondering what it was doing as it streaked by them, three white stripes clear on its hull.

And that's when it started to snow black.

* * *

 **Whew... sorry for the long time between updates.**

 **I feel I should explain. It's a combination of things. First, I was getting another story up and running, and I'm currently juggling a third one on top of that (which is, as of yet, unreleased). So, trying to write 4000 words per story per week... It was a lot. Anyways, that's only one reason.**

 **The other is that I was planning out the last arc of this book(? I'm not sure what to call it). Basically, there are parts of the next few chapters and even the next book that I was writing this week to get them down, which ate into the time I normally devote to this. Oakshire will be the last part of the story for JNPR, and then we have a bit more to go with RWBY.**

 **Other than that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, even though it's set up for the next little bit. This is the catalyst, and from here on, we're going to have a lot of stuff going doing. If you're still reading at this point, thank you so much! I hope that it pays off for you and that you're enjoying! As per usual, any comments, feedback, criticism and ideas are appreciated. You guys are really what keeps the story going, so thank you all a bunch!**


	12. Chapter 12

Yang gasped as pain arced through her mutilated leg, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. The pain subsided, and she opened her lilac orbs again, refocusing on the stone wall in front of her. She shifted her weight back to her good leg, letting it fall against the slight nook in the rock. She looked above her, seeing Ruby scramble up the sheer face above her, the thin ribbon of Gambol Shroud trailing from her waist. Weiss followed her, and then there was Blake just above Yang. The faunus was making her way up at a good pace, her slim yet powerful body able to flow between handholds and ledges gracefully.

Yang would have liked to have thought that, at some point, her own body might have moved in a similar fashion. She knew that Blake would always have a lethal grace to her, almost like a leopard, but Yang had been no slouch. She looked down at her useless leg and sighed. She was slowing them down.

She used her arms to haul herself to the next ledge, pushing her toe against a smooth portion of slightly slanted rock. There was another foothold to the side, but Yang couldn't reach it without putting weight on her recovering leg. Yang looked for another way up, and saw a handhold about three feet above her. She tensed her muscles, pushed against the rock, and then hauled.

She hung in the air in the air for a moment, reaching up to the slight protrusion. For a split second, Yang thought she was going to miss, and then her fingers brushed against the stone. Her muscles squealed in protest as her digits locked around it and she smashed into the wall. She huffed, shaking her long mane of slightly glowing hair behind her.

Not only was she slowing them down, but her hair was acting like a beacon for any and all Grimm around them.

Thanks to her, the process was slow. They were only climbing about a hundred meters, a fraction of the distance it would take them to reach the surface, and it should have taken only around half an hour. Already, forty-five minutes had passed, and it was Yang's fault. All of it was Yang's fault.

A slight skitter below her. Yang froze, her skin crawling at the sound. She knew what it was. She looked down below her, but the light from her hair didn't travel far in the smothering darkness of the sheer night.

"Hurry!" She hissed up the line. She redoubled her effort to scale the wall, but without the use of her leg, she was finding it difficult to go fast. She felt Gambol Shroud tug on her waist as the others sped up. She leaped off her good leg to the next handhold, knowing how dangerous it was, but managed to catch it. She could not let herself slow down. Regular spiders could crawl along walls, and for some funny reason, Yang thought that that ability might extend to spider Grimm.

 _I hate spiders._ She decided on the spot.

The climb was making her head ache. She knew she had lost a lot of blood, and her body was probably having issues circulating blood. That was probably bad, but she'd have to deal with it later.

She looked up at Ruby, noting that they were past halfway up now. That was better, though Yang was about ten meters below her sister. If they could push it, they might get up in the next five minutes.

She worked up a sweat as she used her three functional limbs to claw her way up the sheer slope. Whatever machine had bored this hole had been painfully precise, and the slight ledges and bumps were rare. Hampered as she was, it wasn't long until Yang could feel her muscles burning in protest.

After another couple minutes, interrupted only by the occasional heart-stopping skitter, Yang saw Ruby reach the top. Yang heard the clacking of tiny claws on stone and shuddered. Revulsion welled up in her, making her want to be sick. If she ever saw one of the faces of those creepy beasts again... Yang shivered despite the warmth she was working up trying to climb the pit.

Weiss reached the top, and Yang kept moving, the insistent tugging of Gambol Shroud knocking her out of her reverie. She did her best to focus on the stones rather than the sounds, but she was freaked out by those things. Blake reached the top and started to clamber over it, Yang only a few meters behind her.

And then there was a sickening _shunk_.

Yang looked to her side and saw a _massive_ claw imbedded in the stone right next to her. It was the same kind of a leg tip as most spiders, except this one was easily the size of a car. Just the claw. The end digit. The size of a car. Yang's jaw dropped as she followed the limb, the shiny surface glistening gold from the reflected light of her hair as it stretched into the distance. Yang could only see how far it went thanks to the fact that it blotted out a fair amount of the stars.

She tried to follow the leg below her into the darkness, but it descended further than she could see. Yang gulped nervously as she saw eight little pinpricks of reflected light about fifteen meters below her, and small shards - no, fangs - coated in enough saliva to make them glimmer, even from her faint light.

Yang froze, staring at the massive beast, her heart accelerating. Her pulse crashed over her as she looked at the gigantic Grimm. The blood roared through her ears, made her feel faint. If it weren't for Gambol Shroud, she might have just fallen off the cliff at that moment in shock.

Ever so slowly, she looked back above her. She had five meters to climb. It had fifteen meters to chase. She had no doubt which of them was faster. Her gaze drifted back to the behemoth below her. The second she moved, she knew it would be on her. When it got bored of this waiting game, it would be on her. Ruby had once told her about a conversation she had had with Oobleck. Some of the older, more powerful, _much bigger,_ Grimm had grown wary of knew that, under most conditions, humans couldn't be overpowered. They also got smarter, which means, though this thing probably wasn't too fond of people, it probably knew they weren't much of a threat right now.

Not to mention, as they got older, Grimm got _a lot_ stronger.

She could only play off its fear for so long. Never letting her eyes leave it, she slowly reached her hand up, feeling for the next ledge. She felt the rough indent in the wall and hooked her finger into it. She tensed her muscles, slowly pulling herself up with the one arm. She slowly reached the other arm above her, looking for the ledge she thought she had seen. She found the top of it grabbed, and pulled.

Too late, she realized that it was a loose stone, not the ledge, she had grabbed. Her weight dragged it over the ledge as she let out a yelp of panic. The rock fell out of her hand as she just caught herself with her other arm, spinning around to get a view of it falling.

It seemed almost simultaneous, the clacking of the rock against some overhang and the beast's immediate movement. The thing that people should know is that spiders are _fast_. Yang turned to start up the cliff face again, but even as she turned, the spider's maw came into terrifying focus. Yang saw a brief glimmer of white as she turned away from the gaping maw that was stretched wide to devour her. Yang fought down the revulsion that made her shake uncontrollably and leapt towards the next hand hold.

"Pull!" Yang heard Blake shout, and Gambol Shroud was pulled taught as Yang was heaved higher than she anticipated. She caught another ledge, hooking a foot into a crevice. It was her bad leg though, and it buckled under her weight. Yang nearly lost her grip, but only barely managed to hang on. She heaved off the ledge, not bothering to get her bearings, and again she felt the cord of her partner's weapon pull her upwards. This time she caught the bottom of the cave entrance. Two sets of arms grabbed her own and hauled her up.

Yang caught a brief flash of Weiss concentrating. She spared a glance over the cliff to see the giant spider pulling backwards on a black glyph, trying to dislodge itself. Weiss was sweating and shaking from the exertion, but it looked like she was holding. Yang threw Gambol Shroud from around her waist and Blake retracted the weapon.

"Go!" Ruby commanded, and next to Yang Weiss turned away, presumably releasing the Grimm. Ruby, Blake and Yang started off, Yang following as quickly as she could.

There was a terrifying screech, so loud it seemed to shake the ground under them. There was more clacking, and Yang twirled as she stumbled along, seeing its eight beady eyes glaring at her and two massive pincers gnashing for the girls. _Just it's dust-damned_ head _is too big to fit in the cave_. Yang thought in abject terror.

Realizing its tactic wasn't working, the spider pulled back, and Yang slowed down as she grinned in victory. Until a talon shot down the tunnel and imbedded itself in the ground next to Yang. Her smug smirk disappeared as her eyes widened. She cursed as she started to stumble backwards, outside of the thing's current reach. There was another shriek, and Yang saw another talon rear up outside.

 _There's no way a second one can fit in here._ She thought as she watched it plunge forward straight towards the rock.

And then it was carving through the rock.

"Son of a bi-" Yang was cut off by a massive growling from the earth as the tunnel strained. The talon crashed through to rest by its twin, but this time a massive groove lined the ceiling. Dust started to trickle out of it, and then a few rocks started to tumble. Yang didn't bother to watch as she turned and ran away.

The ground beneath her rumbled and shook, complaining as the shrieks of the spider were cut off by the cave-in. The rest of the team had cut on and was now running towards what appeared to be a secondary shaft from the surface. It was maybe eight meters across and twice as wide. Yang got the memo. If they got to the other side, there was a chance that the collapse would dissipate before reaching them.

Yang tried her best to run, but her staggering limp slowed her down. Every time she tried to put weight on her injured leg it would buckle, hampering her even more and sending pain shooting through the limb.

Small shards of rock cut into her skin as they fell from the ceiling. There was the loud crack of rock splintering from behind her and the ground shook, sending her tumbling to the side. She could see the shadowy outlines of the rest of her team sprinting for the edge of the cliff. If they got to the other side, they could outrun the collapsing tunnel. That was the thought that drove Yang forward.

She grimaced as she forced herself back to her feet, trying to keep ahead of the cave-in. The rocks smashed behind her, tons of compacted sediment cracking into one another as the entire tunnel fell apart. She pumped her arms, trying to move faster, but her lame leg held her back.

She saw Blake shoot Gambol Shroud off, impaling it on the far wall and swinging across the chasm. Weiss danced across the gap on glowing white glyphs, though the last one was hazy. As Weiss alighted on it, it buckled and collapsed, and the heiress only barely grabbed the other ledge. Crescent Rose fired off, propelling Ruby across the chasm. That was a similar strategy to what Yang would have done, but she didn't have any dust rounds left for her gauntlets.

She wasn't going to make it.

Yang continued to move though, vainly trying to escape the inevitable. She was going to die. After all that had happened, all she had been through, she was going to die.

 _No!_ She snarled at herself mentally. She couldn't give up. There was no chance if she didn't try, but if she did, there was the slightest of possibilities that something would work. Yang coughed as she inhaled the dust that was rapidly filling the air, hacking into her sleeve. She spat as she continued to run, but the taste of earth didn't leave her mouth.

"Yang!" Blake shouted, waving Gambol Shroud. Yang grinned. If they could time it right, she could grab the weapon as she jumped through the air. Blake and the others could pull her up on the other side. All she had to do was catch.

For someone fleeing a giant monster-spider, a cave-in, and a frequent boxer of monsters who were the fabric of nightmares, 'catch' seemed pretty easy.

The ledge was a few steps away now, and Yang dropped her head, charging into it. Her leg gave out on the first step, but she picked herself up and tried again. This time it held for the three steps that Yang used as a run-up, and she leaped.

But the ground gave out from under her as she pushed off the unstable earth. She pushed, gained little purchase on the dropping rock, couldn't jump. She heard Gambol Shroud fire, and looked up to see it flying through the air too high, to where she should have been. Yang reached for it, trying to grab the scythe's handle as it whipped by. Her hand brushed metal, and an absurd, desperate hope flare in Yang's chest. Her middle finger grazed the metal, and Yang tried to stretch, but her body was falling and the weapon was flying past. Yang twisted, thinking that somehow she might have been able to grasp it, but it was already gone, and Yang was falling.

She saw Gambol Shroud start to fall, but too far behind her. She was picking up speed as the silhouette of Blake and her weapon faded into the murky distance. Yang squeezed her eyes shut, a single tear slipping from her eye, and she prepared for the end.

* * *

 **Apparently I hate Yang... I don't know why I'm doing everything to her. I actually like her character. But, given what's going to happen later and the injuries Yang already had, she was the most likely not to make it. It sucks, but one injury leads to the next leads to the next... As to whether she's dead or not... well we'll find out.**

 **Short chapter, but I feel it deserved its own space. It's kind of significant. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed the read! Any tips, comments, suggestions and ideas are more than welcome and will help me write better!**

- **Unjax**


	13. Chapter 13

"Hello friends!" Jaune frowned, looking away from the large tablet depicting the soon-to-be battlefield at the odd voice interrupting his thoughts. He and Goodwitch had spent the past hour, a reprieve in the random assaults on the village walls, going over different possibilities of the upcoming battle, and he didn't like it. There were a few other huntsmen and huntresses that had shown up, but most of them were either out of the kingdom and unable to attend the party, or just plain old dead. So far, it had just been stray Grimm that had been attacking the walls; disorganized and easily dispatched, but he knew more was coming.

Jaune studied the newcomer, seeing a teenage girl in front of him. She had short ginger hair, curled slightly at the sides and was wearing a green dress overtop a faded white shirt. She wore leggings, but of an unconventional kind, with green lines running down the side and almost glowing faintly. She had freckles on her face too, and bright green eyes. They weren't like Pyrrha's though, but held more of an uncontrollable energy. Despite the colour, they reminded Jaune a little of Ruby's eyes.

Sadness struck him for a moment before he pushed it down. She was still alive, they all were. They had to be. He just had to make sure that his plan worked, and then he would have the chance to find out where they were.

"Um..." He realized he hadn't spoken for a matter of seconds. Neither had Goodwitch, but she tended to not do that most of the time. "Hi." He said dumbly.

"I've been told that when meeting people for the first time, you tell them your name. My name's Penny!"

"Uh, nice to meet you Penny. Um, do you live here? The town was evacuated yesterday, so if you do, you should really get out of here."

"No, I don't live here!" Somehow she managed to say everything upbeat. Penny came off as... Strange to Jaune.

"Um, alright, are you visiting?"

"No! I'm a huntress!" Jaune frowned.

"You sure about that?"

"Yes," She looked at him intently. "And you're Jaune, right?"

"Yes..." He said hesitantly. What was this girl's deal?

"Well, I'm here to fight! My father sent me when he found out what was happening."

"Penny, I'm sorry, but you don't look old enough to be a huntress. We can't put you on the front lines-"

He was cut off by a loud _snap_ , followed by a line of swords drifting out from behind the girl. There were cables connected to them, but they seemed to be floating of their own accord. Jaune's jaw dropped.

"I'm combat ready! Where do you need me?"

Jaune looked at Goodwitch helplessly. Somehow, the teacher was completely unfazed. Jaune wondered what, besides food fights, could possibly shake her.

"Miss... Penny, you fought in the Vytal Festival's tournament, correct?" A sharp nod, accompanied by that still grin that was incredibly unsettling. "And you placed sixth, correct?" Another nod.

"I couldn't use a few of my abilities because they might have hurt the other participants."

"You held back and you got sixth?" Jaune was understandably dubious. On the other hand though, this girl didn't seem capable of lying.

"Well, you're cleared to use all of your abilities to their fullest extent here and now." Goodwitch said. "You'll be positioned along the north-west wall. When it inevitably fails, you will fall back through the streets with the other hunters posted there, taking care to keep the Grimm's attention on you. Weave back and forth through the buildings buying as much time as you can. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" A quick, sharp salute, and she was gone.

"What?" Jaune asked his superior, but she just turned back to the table.

"The north-west wall won't hold forever. She's a capable huntress."

"She's still a student, not a huntress."

"As are you Mr. Arc, but as of now, we do not have the liberty of-"

"Jaune," Ren's stoic voice cut through Goodwitch's speech, accompanied by the flapping of the tent door. "Grimm."

"How many?" He asked, already unsheathing his blade and following his friend out of the tent.

"About a hundred, non-augmented." Short, sharp, cut to the chase.

"North wall?" A quick nod.

Jaune jogged through the streets of Oakshire. The town was small and smelled of pine. Most of the buildings had been made of the stuff, but the outside wall, as was standard, was made of stone. Harder for the Grimm to get into. In moments they were at the edge of the town, and Jaune took the ascending stairs up the wall two at a time.

He looked over towards the forest, noting the confounding contrast of the bright white snow tumbling through the air, being mixed in eddies with the pure black dust that the Bullheads had dropped from above. The dust made the world dimmer, but at the edge of the forest, a hundred or so meters away, he could see the glowing red eyes of the Grimm, burning like little flames in the shadows.

It had begun.

* * *

Blake stared.

This couldn't happen.

It wasn't possible.

The world was not that cruel.

But the evidence was there. She had watched it happen, watched as Yang fell, the rock crumbling beneath her, plunging her into the infinite darkness. Yang was dead.

Those three words broke her world. Her partner was _dead_. Forever. There was a tugging on her arm, and Blake numbly felt herself pulled a step back, but her gaze didn't move. It was locked on the spot on the other side of the cavern where her partner's fate had been sealed, the freshly splintered rock unmoving.

A voice in her ear, but the words could not be deciphered. They were cloudy - distant. The only thing that existed in that moment was that rock and the fact that Yang was gone.

A sharp pull, and Blake was pushed a step, losing sight of the rock. There was a ringing in her ears, as if the world had exploded, but there had been no concussive sounds.

She was whipped around involuntarily. Something dressed in white pulled her forward. Blake stumbled, dragged along by the little figurine, dragged further into the darkness. Steps, jumbled, detached; Blake wasn't present for any of it. Her mind was frozen, locked on that point in time, the look on Yang's face. Shadows and stone rushed around her, she heard voices calling to one another - or maybe to her, she couldn't tell and didn't care to.

The world seemed to be spinning, washes and streaks of colour twisted around her, making her dizzy and feel nauseous. She wanted to be sick, she wanted to stop moving, she just wanted everything to stop. The world needed to stop and slow down because it didn't make sense anymore.

And then the whirlwind slowed, ever so slightly.

She was sitting on the ground. She didn't know how she had gotten there. The world wasn't spinning anymore. There was a small flame flickering in front of her, ignited in a small phial of red dust. She still wanted to vomit. Her hands were tucked over her stomach, but it did nothing to calm the roaring turmoil inside of her.

"Blake?" The voice broke through her mind. She turned slowly to face the source. Weiss was looking back at her, concerned.

"Huh?" Blake couldn't think of anything to say.

"You need to eat something." Weiss was holding up some canned tuna.

Canned tuna because she knew Blake would be destroyed right now. And canned tuna was her favourite. Canned tuna might make her feel better.

Blake just stared at it blankly. She couldn't eat right now. How could she eat? Such a simple task seemed impossible.

Her body convulsed. A moment later it happened again. Blake wasn't sure what was happening. She touched her face, her hand came away wet.

More sobs, and Weiss still held the tuna to her. Blake pushed it away and curled up, tucking her knees to her chest and burying her face in them. She could feel the water soaking her leggings.

"Blake!" Weiss was more insistent this time, pulling her head up. "Get it together." The heiress' voice was cold and sharp. It had a similar effect as if Blake's head had been dumped in ice water. She looked up at Weiss, and oddly enough her eyes didn't seem as glacial as her voice. "Yang's dead." It was calmly and levelly said, but Blake's mind revolted at the sound of those words.

"No she's- She can't-"

"Yang is dead. Once we get out of here, you will mourn. You can take as much time as you want, but right now, you need to hold it together. She's dead, get over it." There was a hysteric edge to Weiss' voice, half pleading and half scared.

"How can you say that?" Blake's voice was nothing more than a harsh whisper. She wanted to be angry at Weiss for being so unfeeling and dismissive, but she couldn't bring herself to be mad. All she had was that constricting feeling on her chest, like someone was crushing her heart into an infinitely dense ball. Someone had eviscerated her insides, she was sure of it.

"Blake? Tell me how you met Yang." Blake felt like her stomach drop at her partners name. Dust, it felt like she was falling and the whole world was falling and the stone around her was crumbling and - "Blake! Don't think. Just tell me what happened."

* * *

Weiss looked into Blake's eyes, urging her to just listen. Grimm fed on negative emotions, they were drawn to it like crows to a corpse. Yang was dead, and Weiss couldn't deny the void in her stomach as she thought about it, but she needed to stop the others from thinking about what had happened. Weiss didn't think she'd ever forget the look of despair on Yang's face as she dropped away, but she couldn't think of that right now. Blake was broken, curled up and staring at the fire, sobbing openly.

There was no way that any of them could not think about Yang right now, but if they could think about the good times, maybe they could avoid their own horrible deaths. Weiss hoped so anyways.

"She, I, we were in Beacon. Ruby had exploded in front of you earlier, I guess she hadn't made any other friends. Yang figured that, since Ruby had met me, we could be friends. I was reading and Yang dragged her up to me. That's the first time I saw her."

"That was right before I came over and yelled at everyone wasn't it?"

"First team meeting." Blake gave a thin smile, but her eyes were still watery and filled with sorrow. Weiss couldn't blame her, but put on a smile anyways. Smiling wasn't normal for her, but she had to. Jaune had told her once that if she smiled for long enough it would cheer her up. She had scowled then, but now she took his advice.

"Do you remember how she landed in initiation?"

"I lost sight of her after she flew through a tree." Blake laughed a little. "She looked like a comet. She sure knows how to make an entrance." Weiss stiffened as she saw Blake's eyes widen slightly. Weiss knew that Blake was thinking about how present tense didn't really apply to Yang anymore.

"What's your favourite memory of her?" Weiss asked hurriedly, trying to keep Blake's mind moving away from what had just happened.

"Weiss, I-"

"Shut up and talk." Weiss demanded. Normally Blake probably would have given her a blank stare and said something witty, but Blake wasn't exactly in a normal state of mind.

"Just before I started going out with Sun officially. He had talked to her before asking me out, trying to figure out the best way to do it, so she knew it was going to happen. She asked if I wanted to go for a ride on Bumblebee with her for some 'girl time.' She took me to the edge of Forever Fall, and we just sat there as the leaves flitted around us. We talked, had a few snacks she had brought along - tuna mainly - but then we stopped talking. We just kind of sat there, in the forest, as the world passed around us. We didn't say anything, and we didn't have to.

"You know, in books there's always a passage about the point when people understand each other and they don't have to say anything anymore. I always thought it was romantic and beautiful but completely unrealistic. That's what it felt like though. It just felt like I had someone I always knew I could go to. Someone I could trust completely, but not because they had done worse than I had. I've never really had that before."

Blake's voice trailed off and slowed, lost in the memory. Blake's eyes glazed over for a moment before refocusing.

"Just keep thinking about that day." Weiss said, hoping that Blake would. It was delicate what Weiss was doing. It could just as easily make Blake feel ten times worse. When - no, if - they got out of the Pit, they would have a lot to deal with. Weiss had nearly died. Yang had nearly died before actually dying, Blake had nearly killed her partner then watched her die, Ruby losing a sister at the same time...

For a brief moment, a bitter thought crossed Weiss' mind. She was almost wishing they would die before they had to face the demons prowling around the edges of their minds.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on it. Weiss took two sharp steps over to Ruby, who had just lost her sister, the closest family she had. _First her mother, and now her sister._ Weiss thought bitterly to herself. It wasn't fair. Some people lived their lives without ever having to deal with people being prematurely stolen from them, but not her team. The ones she actually cared about shared one thing with her: all of them had to deal with the worst hands life could deal. It was cheap, it was unfair, and it was just an unlucky draw.

But now they needed to deal with it. They had no other choice. They had to be happy in the face of the worst thing to happen to any of them.

"Ruby," Weiss commanded sharply, and the redhead shifted her gaze. Weiss sighed before continuing, letting some sleep dust float into the air. "Are you alright?"

"No," Ruby's voice was empty and dull.

"Yang is a great sister-"

"Was." Ruby cut off, eyes devoid of life.

"Think about the best parts of her. You need to focus on the positives here Ruby."

"We don't have a choice. That's what you said, but we did. We could have chosen to not come."

"You couldn't have known Ruby. This isn't your fault."

"I'm the leader. Everything that happens to my team is my fault. Yang's dead, Weiss."

Behind her, Weiss heard Blake let out a rattling breath. She whipped her head towards the faunus, but she was sure Blake understood what she was doing. She had her eyes closed, taking deep, calming breaths.

"Stop it Ruby!" Weiss wished she had been better with people. She didn't know how to deal with this, how to make them feel better. She didn't know if it was even possible. Yang would have done something, made everyone laugh. Weiss knew it would have been better if they had traded places.

"I can't stop it Weiss, don't you get it? She's my sister. She's my family..." Ruby's voice trailed off and a tear slid down her cheek. It shimmered like a diamond in the flickering light, and Weiss was hit with a rush of compassion. Now wasn't the time to grieve though. Weiss needed Ruby and Blake to forget, she needed them unfeeling or the Grimm would be on them in a moment. None of them were ready for a fight now. They were exhausted, malnourished, dehydrated, but worst of all, they were already beaten. At the very core of their spirits, they were broken.

Weiss took a shaky breath.

"Just tell me about Patch." Weiss said, pulling Ruby into a hug. Ruby wasn't a child - none of them were anymore - but Weiss knew that it would help. She may not have found physical contact comforting, but she wasn't like most people.

With some more prompting, Ruby began to talk, and after that the stories poured out of her. When Yang was a kid and beat up a kid in Ruby's grade who had thrown dirt in her eyes. Late nights watching the stars in the middle of summer with no light pollution to dim their brilliance. Stories from her early life, Signal, Beacon... Yang had burned a path through life unlike any.

Weiss briefly wondered if she died down here in this hellhole, what stories would people tell of her? Weiss had never done much that she could ever imagine anyone being proud of. In some dark corner of her heart, she envied who Yang had been, and hated herself for it.

Ruby's voice eventually began to fade as the exhaustion took over. The words became spaced, then sentences fragmented, until it was just a few splintered words and Ruby stopped talking altogether.

After a few seconds, Weiss saw her eyes drift closed. She lay Ruby's head on her backpack, stood, and walked to the edge of the illuminated ground. It formed a circle, displaying the pale faces of Ruby and Blake passed out on the floor. Weiss drew Mytenaester, then sat cross legged with her rapier laying across her lap. She had dealt with this before, she could push it down. She could forget it for long enough for the others to sleep through the worst of the pain.

The hardest part would be to stop herself from succumbing to it - the torrential rush of memories and pain. She looked at Blake's face, then Ruby's. They were pale and their eyes were deep hollows with dark marks underneath. They were taxed, physically, mentally, and emotionally. She couldn't help but feel there was an entire body missing. There was, of course.

Weiss wasn't the happiest person at the best of times, but now she had to force herself to be happy. She took her own advice, and started thinking of the best times she had shared with Yang. Between emulating the boisterous girl's puns to everyone having a laugh at school dances, there were plenty of them. Where Yang went, good memories followed, and Weiss let them come naturally. They flowed the way a river might, each memory a drop flowing elegantly and smoothly into the next.

Weiss didn't find it easy to be happy, but she just forced a smile on her face, letting the river flow. She sat there, a lonely figure in the dark, surrounded by shadows, with nothing but a flickering flame to keep her company as the night grew darker in the world above. She would never know though, because no light could ever reach where she was. The most that she could hope for was that someday, she might see the light again.

But not without the sobering knowledge that her world had been changed forever.

* * *

 **Well, this chapter sucked. I wrote it, deleted it, re-wrote it, changed it, edited it into oblivion, changed it again, and nothing worked. I know where I'm going with this though, so at least I have that. Oakshire will be a big part of the next few chapters, and RWBY is going to have some more fun with Grimm! Hooray!**

 **Honestly, I just need this chapter out of the way. Forgive me for its sub-par-ness, but it needed to be done. Now the story can move on towards its conclusion...**

 **Also, Penny! She will play an important role in Oakshire.**

 **Anyways, any advice, thoughts, criticisms or ideas are very welcome, especially on a chapter like this. How could it be improved? Was it not quite as awful as I feel? Should I have just skipped right into the action?**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **-Unjax**


	14. Chapter 14

Pyrrha grimaced as the Ursa tumbled clumsily over her, its legs having been hacked off by a simple sweep of Milos. They were just regular Grimm so far, but there were still a lot of them. If this kept up, they'd be fine, but they had not so much as seen or heard a whisper of the augmented Grimm since the assault on Oakshire had started.

Next to her, Velvet raised a hand and a Deathstalker found its talons imbedded in ice on the ground. Pyrrha spared a glance at the huntress, her face a stony mask. Pyrrha had never spoken much with Velvet, but the woman had never seemed so aggressive before. Sympathy welled up in Pyrrha for the huntress. Her entire team had been lost, and that was bound to affect who she was.

Jaune slashed down at the frozen Deathstalker, cleaving its head off cleanly. He grimaced as ichor began spilling out, then it started to dissolve. Pyrrha turned and launched Milos into the Ursa she had just relieved of legs. The beast began to dissolve.

A brief break in the combat came from that death. All the Grimm attacking them were dead. Pyrrha let out a sigh, feeling the sheen of sweat covering her body start to chill her as a gust of wind swept through the evening.

"Sir!" A scout came running down the street, addressing Jaune. Pyrrha smiled at the title. Jaune deserved it, but she could see his confusion for a moment before he realized who the scout was talking to.

"Yes?"

"Augmented Grimm! Fifty of them approaching the wall."

A beat as everyone processed.

"Ren, Nora, Velvet, stay and hold this area. There shouldn't be too much more coming through this sector, but I'm counting on you to hold it."

"Won't let ch'ya down boss!" Nora chirped with a salute. Ren nodded. Velvet didn't move.

"Pyrrha, let's go." He said, jogging off before she could answer. She followed close behind.

* * *

 _Red tinged the world as she stumbled through the blindingly bright caverns, illuminated by her golden, shimmering hair. No, not just her hair now. Everything was glowing. She stumbled into a wall, looked down as a cut opened up in her leg. It seemed to shimmer for a moment, her very blood letting off a fine vapor, then the cut sealed up. She frowned. There was no pain in her leg._

 _She kept moving, not knowing what was happening. She just kept walking, unaware of the cobwebs lining the tunnel around her and the absolute stillness of the air. She was unaware that she was at the very bottom, a place hollowed out thousands of years before by a massive creature, now so old that it was unlikely any other being had seen as much of the world exist as it._

 _Unaware that she was blindly stumbling towards it. Unaware she was walking into the den of the beast._

* * *

Pyrrha had never fought so hard. She leapt, weaved under strikes, slashed, shot, and stabbed wherever she moved. She was liquid motion, striking with the speed of lightning, moving with the agility of an athlete and the coordination of a dancer. It was bloody art. A beowolf with red claws slashed at her, but she ducked under it, allowing the claw to bounce off Akuo on her back, then opened its stomach. It roared and slammed its claw into her, sending her flying, unaware it was already dead.

Pyrrha flipped and landed in a three point stance, her sword cleaving through the ground to slow her movement. She looked up as a Boarbatusk rolled into a ball, red spikes protruding from its back churning the earth as it ripped towards her. Pyrrha waited a moment, then sidestepped and stabbed into the middle of the ball as it rolled by. Its momentum carried it for a moment, then the Grimm sprawled. Pyrrha tried to move towards it and retrieve her weapon, but an Ursa twice her height stepped in front of her and roared.

Her shield flew into her grip, the effort of her semblance making her gut twist, but she didn't have time to worry about that. The trick to fighting the augmented Grimm was to never think. Never plan. It slowed you down, and while Pyrrha could afford that in a tournament match, she could not here.

The massive beast tried to crush her, and Pyrrha angled her defense so the claw slid off her shield. She whipped around to slice its hand off with the sharpened edge of Akuo, but before she could something massive slammed into her back, sending her flying. She could feel her aura struggling to hold as she tumbled through the dirt, now slick and muddy from the blood of soldiers. She could hear more combat around her, but Pyrrha didn't dare lose focus. Her mind flashed to Jaune. She needed to know if he was okay. But he was capable. He would have to be fine without her help.

The Ursa charged her, a tonne of solid flesh bearing down on her. Behind it was the smoking Boarbatusk. She held out her hand, felt the pull of Milos, and wrenched. It took effort that Pyrrha couldn't afford, but the sword flew through the air and embedded itself in the Ursa's eye. It bellowed, whipping towards the non-existent opponent that had thrown the sword. Pyrrha didn't waste a moment, sprinting towards the distracted Grimm. She leapt off its knee gracefully, slinging herself onto its back. She slammed Akuo into one of the crystalline spikes protruding from its back, shattering it. She repeated the process on a second as the Grimm reared back, roaring even louder.

She knocked it as she felt, smashing in and falling to the ground. Her aura buckled under the pressure for a second before she was able to refocus and summon her failing life force. The Ursa rounded on her, and Pyrrha vainly held Akuo in front of her as she scrambled backwards, using her free arm and both legs. It advanced slowly, aware it had won. If she had full control of her semblance, she would have driven Milos further into its skull until it hit the beast's brain, but she hadn't the energy left.

It leaned back on its haunches, ready to leap forward and snap her into its maw. Maybe she could block it for one blow, but after that, it would take her. She looked at it defiantly, challenging it.

It moved, and a black and white blur came between the two of them. Before she could register it, Milos was in her hand again and the Ursa was without a head. Jaune winked at her and moved off. Reunited with her sword, Pyrrha dove into the fray once more.

* * *

 _The cavern was huge. Yang was awestruck. It must have been two hundred meters tall and half a kilometer long. It was inarguably massive. In the middle was something akin to a small mountain, but made of some material that glimmered slightly._

 _Yang… That was her name. Right. She looked around, the red tinge of the world making everything buzz. She could feel energy throbbing through her body, pulsing alongside her heartbeat. She kept walking towards the mound in the middle of the room, looking around at all the tunnels leading into and out of this place. It was no wonder she had ended up there. She suspecting every tunnel somehow intersected with this one._

 _And then the mountain twitched._

* * *

Everything was burning. They were losing. Pyrrha knew that much. They had probably already lost. The augmented Grimm were dead, but at no small price, and certainly not without leaving the survivors tired. When the White Fang and Cinder herself had come, there was little they could do. With no reprieve from the battle, the defenders of the small town were helpless against these fresh reinforcements. And the witch had taken every opportunity to burn the town to the ground.

Beside her Jaune shouted orders as the two of them slowly backed up, their shield wall holding the street as the White Fang tried to press through. But it was only one street, and the defenders had to hold six blocks to maintain a defense of any sort. They were running out of soldiers, and they were running out of time. The augmented Grimm had taken out nearly all the hunters, all of them dying valiantly and doing more than could ever have been expected of them, but it wasn't enough. The town was done. The question now was whether they could retreat without everyone dying.

Suddenly, the White Fang in front of them were crushed to the side by an invisible hand. Pyrrha glanced behind her to see Goodwitch giving them a nod.

Then a fireball crackled to life at the far end of the street and Jaune and Pyrrha hit the ground. Goodwitch dismissed the fire with a wave of her riding crop.

"Time to go children. Prepare the dust ships." It was said as if she were assigning homework, but Jaune and Pyrrha got moving as a fiery shadow approached, fire in hand.

* * *

 _The spider was massive. It towered at least six stories high with legs that went even higher before descending to the earth once more. It looked at her, eight glowing reflections in its glassy eyes. A gob of saliva as large as Yang dripped from its mouth to splash against the ground. It chittered, and Yang's legs almost gave out._

 _She had been afraid before. She had even been sure she was going to die several times._

 _But this fear was primal. It was looking at an evil so ancient that she knew it had devoured thousands of lives. If Grimm learned over time, this Grimm would have had millenia. It regarded her with nearly conscious intelligence. She was glowing, she was light, and it was darkness and shadow. But it had seen light before. It had snuffed it out._

 _Yang could feel the energy from her fall surging through her, looking for an escape. It wanted out. Yang could relate right now. There were hundreds of holes around the chamber, some small enough the spider wouldn't be able to follow. But if she moved, she knew it would be on her in a second. It would move faster than any of the other spiders she had encountered. It would kill her._

 _No, her only choice was to fight._

 _Yang stared at an evil so ancient it may well have consumed whole civilizations, and took a stance, and winked._

* * *

"Oh look," The silky voice cooed, followed by the appearance of a woman in a red dress, playing with fire in her hand. Her face was cast in shadow by the folds of her hair, nothing but the reflections of fire showing in her eyes. "The lapdog decided to go out for a stroll."

Goodwitch didn't answer, but rather turned so she was perpendicular to her adversary, minimizing the chances of being hit by a projectile. A pulse of purple light bubbled out around her, flexing and preparing. Her riding crop was held extended in her hand, and her eyes were hard chits of vibrant blue. She stood, unmoving and unfazed, in the midst of the chaotic storm of flame that had engulfed the village. Thick tendrils of smoke snaked around her, choking the sky in their dark grasp and blotting out the sun.

"Tell me, Goodwitch, have you ever questioned him? Have you ever allowed yourself the slightest of thoughts that the whole regimen might be out of order?" Cinder Fall's face came into sharper focus as she approached, showing the slight, malicious smile gracing her features. "I'm going to show the world what it means to be free."

There was a slight sigh from Goodwitch, as if she were dealing with a particularly bothersome student. She raised two fingers to her glasses, pushing them back into their position from when they were skewed in the long hours of fighting she had endured.

There was a tense moment, the roaring of flames and the crackling of burning wood the only sounds to be heard in the deathly silence of the empty village, now ruined and wasted. The two sorceresses stood apart from one another; Cinder confident and smirk, and Goodwitch stoic and unmoving despite the exhaustion that must have come with the day long combat against Cinder's forces.

The silence was broken by a slight chuckle, which grew into a sneer. "You can't win." The fiery outlaw declared. "I've heard so many things about the great Glynda Goodwitch. I wonder, will your death be as spectacular as the tales told of your deeds?"

The fire, which had been slinking around Cinder's hands, coalesced into a ball, glyphs floating into the air around her. Goodwitch remained unmoved as the fire around the witch seemed to be drawn into the flame of her hand, growing into a glowing ball.

"I guess we'll find out."

And then Cinder let the fire loose. Goodwitch simply slashed diagonally with her riding crop and the flames dispersed as a beam of purple energy sliced through them, flicking harmlessly over the purple bubble of protective energy around her.

"Hmph," Was all the teacher said, readjusting her glasses.

* * *

 _Yang held the talon and pushed against it, the energy of two falls surging through her. She could see the rocks around her beginning to flow a cherry red as she released enough energy to melt steel. She threw it away, sending the behemoth staggering back. She could feel flames flicking along her skin, and she could see the spider almost shrink away from her. It was wary now. This insect was able to wrestle with it._

 _Yang walked towards it calmly, waiting for the telltale twitch that the spider would give before it moved. She saw it and stutter stepped into a punch, swinging with all her might. Her fist connected with a talon twice as tall as she stood, and Yang felt the blow slam into her aura. But it also replenished her energy. She pushed against the spider as it pushed against her, the two of them straining in a titanic clash. Another talon descended towards her and Yang caught it with her other hand, grimacing as her knees buckled as she was forced into a kneeling position. Two more talons piled on, threatening to snuff the light out of existance._

* * *

Jaune watched in amazement. It was as if the world had been reduced to two warring storms, clashing into one another and ripping each other apart. Starbursts of purple and orange energy rippled off one another, torrential winds of flame smashing into unyielding bubbles of ethereal purple. Dust slammed through the air as fire, then was stopped and transformed, unleashed backwards, all happening faster than the eye could possibly perceive it.

And at the center of the maelstrom were two women, one of fire and bloody revolution, forever stained scarlet, and the other of faith and trust, standing in a royal purple. Death flared around the two, nipping at each of them, but anytime the jagged shards of crystal, streams of flame or spears of energy approached one of them, they were transformed and hurled back. They had harnessed the most fundamental energies of the world, flinging the primeval forces into one another, and neither yielded.

A wave of fire surged towards the stoic blonde, who raised a hand and turned it to ice even as a pulse of purple energy shattered the stones flying at her, caught up in an unnatural wind sent by Cinder. The frozen wave disintegrated into a million blades of ice and were flung towards the devilishly burning one. Her face, once confident and darkly humorous, was now a mask of concentration. These women knew what they had gotten into now, whether they had intended it or not. They were harnessing and unleashing death itself at one another, and the slightest misstep would cost the loser everything.

Jaune tensed as he watched the two hurricanes circling the two woman surge forward, black smoke cutting into pure, clean air. The two sliced each other to flailing strands where they met, creating an eerie semblance of two massive claws, reaching for one another.

Inside the cocoon of pure energy, the shrapnel of ice had been melted into steam, which thickened into dark smoke before a flame flared to life within. Goodwitch, not giving Cinder a second to unleash it, raised her riding crop parallel to the ground, then swung it down to beside her hip in a sharp motion. A crescent of white light shot out from the edge of the weapon, carving into the earth, sending asphalt flying in all directions. Cinder sneered as she twisted to the side to avoid the attack. Her concentration broken, the fire faded from her fingers.

The smoky wind pressed against the clear cut air, and Goodwitch was forced back a step by their invisible connection, but she regained her bearing immediately. The encroaching shadow was pushed back, and her riding crop was raised once more, held in a guard position in front of her body. Two fingers came up to push Goodwitch's glasses back up to their usual spot. Never did the slightest flicker of emotion cross her face.

But Jaune knew she was tired.

He ushered more of the survivors into dust-ships, instructing the pilots to fly as fast as they could back to Beacon. That was their last hope. Beacon was defensible and a symbol of hope for the people. They would fight harder there. It was the last chance they would have. It would be their last stand.

* * *

Goodwitch could feel herself flagging. Perhaps if she had been fresh, she might have withstood this onslaught. Even then though, this was more about concentration than power. This would not be determined by who lost their aura first. There was enough energy passing between and around the two of them that it would obliterate the strongest aura ten times over. Whoever lapsed first would die. Glynda suspected there wouldn't even be ashes left.

They had given up the pretenses of fire now. The difference facsimiles of the dust had faded away by now, stripped to its pure basics after so much transformation. All the dust and energy that had gone into the battle was still held there, none of it having dispersed, and now arcs of white lightning arced between the two of them and nothing else. It was pure, raw, uncontrollable energy.

Goodwitch was unsure if this had ever happened before. This was certainly the only time she had manipulated pure energy. It bent to her will, but it was like a bomb. The slightest misstep would ignite it and cause an explosion.

Something blasted towards her chest and Glynda couldn't raise her crop fast enough to stop the lightning. It arced through her, the rest of the energy flowing between them latching onto the connection and streaming into her. Goodwitch spasmed as something akin to electricity seized her body, and she fell to her knees. White energy streamed into her from all directions, Cinder taking the opportunity to dispose of all the energy.

It burned her, arcing through her body and melting her insides. Glynda coughed, but it wasn't a cough. She didn't have lungs anymore. It was more a convulsion, and a puddle of white and black flooded from her mouth. Her insides. Liquefied. No longer inside.

Goodwitch stared at it, disbelieving. She had realized shortly after the duel began that it was going to be life or death. Soon after that, she knew she was going to lose.

But dying?

It didn't seem real.

She could feel the energy searing her flesh from the inside out. She screamed, but nothing happened. More liquid spilled from her mouth onto the ground. Her aura had constricted, protecting her mind, in an almost cruel way, all she had left was the ability to perceive her own death. She could see her skin beginning to glow, the it burst into flame. Glynda screamed without screaming as the flames took her, burned her into a husk of ash, then kept burning until the only remnant of Glynda Goodwitch was a wisp of smoke in the air.

* * *

 **This story's still kicking! This chapter was just a monster to write.**

 **Also, don't kill me. I think this story might be an 'm' rating now... If it helps, I have fifty pages of the ending already done, and maybe three to write to join the two, so really, this is almost done.**

 **Thanks for reading, and any thoughts, comments, questions, ideas etc.. are welcome.**

 **Cheers,**

 **Unjax**


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